Stumbling Into You
by Midori Konbu
Summary: Ch. 16 out. What do you get when you have a career woman Kaoru in the workplace? complications, that's for sure. AU. multi pair.
1. A Dreary Monday

A/N: I hope I start off okay…my first try at E/K. although Enishi isn't coming yet…Looking forward to getting your reviews…please? A/K/E

Disclaimer: RK is my best-loved manga, along with Yukishiro Enishi and Shinomori Aoshi. If only Nobuhiro Watsuki gave me the right to own the two of them at least… wishful thinking..

**Chapter I. A Dreary Monday**

"Riiiinggggg!" the six o'clock alarm clock sounded loudly, waking up a cringing half-sleepy, disheveled Kaoru Kamiya in the process. She grumbled and reached out for the off button half-heartedly. "Ooow, Monday morning sucks!" she exclaimed loudly while rubbing sleep off her pretty azzure eyes.

Walking, or rather, slowly dragging her feet toward the bathroom, she noticed a pile of dirty laundry huddled not-so-neatly at one corner. Frustrated sigh escaped her lips, "Must remember to do laundry………" she made a mental note on her mind. After Stumbling into the shower, she turned on the shower tap on full force, wincing on the initial icy water that was poured upon her body, before sighing contentedly when it warmed up.

"Yahikoooo!" She screamed on top of her lungs in an attempt of waking her little brother up. He has to go to school at seven, and there was no sign of him being up and about still. Currently engaging herself in the breakfast making ritual of toast, egg and ham sandwich, she made a mental note of things to be done on that day. Yahiko finally peeked out from upstairs, all blurry-eyed and messed up spiky brown hair framed his face. Kaoru almost giggled before she took a serious note and told him to quickly take shower. He certainly took his time to do that. Oh, she's about to have a long day ahead of her.

She was so busy scolding Yahiko for being so unprepared, took his things, threw them all into his backpack, and shoved him out of the door in a flash. Hurrying herself to change into her usual work uniform, a crisp long-sleeved white shirt and a modest, knee-length gray skirt, only to find that her shirt was not so crisp to begin with,

which means….crumpled beyond belief…

she let out another exasperated groan. She knew that today wasn't her day.

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"Tap..tap..tap" the sound of her heels dug the hard cement of the sidewalk could be heard while she's half-running to her destination. It was 6.50 when she came out of the house, only this was undesired, since she doesn't want to be late, no no, not today, never on Mondays, when she knew that the supervisor on duty was Takani Megumi, the sharp, witty and one that could be downright annoying if she wants to be. And Kaoru was sure that she will be displaying her latter characteristic if she comes in late today. With that thought in mind, she hastily fastened her pace.

The 7.00 o'clock train was very full. Clutching her handbag, Kaoru let herself think over her monotonous, almost boring life, if she dares to say it out loud (granted, she's in denial sometimes, but she refuses to acknowledge it for her pride's sake!) Yes, Kaoru Kamiya is a proud and strong-willed girl, or rather stubborn as her friends say. A flock of school girls chatted amiably, a brooding teenager stood up on the other corner while listening to his ipod, and some elderly gentlemen were making a hushed conversation in the background, when Kaoru suddenly heard her poor stomach make odd rumbling noises, which thankfully, wasn't very loud, and remembered her prepared ham sandwich on the kitchen bench, long forgotten in her haste to get to the office. She frowned internally and let other, more pleasant thoughts occupy her mind to distract her from the sudden pang of hunger.

-----------------------------------

It was 7.15 when she arrived at the office, late by fifteen minutes, and Kaoru was seriousy thinking of turning around and going back to her house, when suddenly she heard, "Well..well…if it's not Kamiya breaking her record of being late three times this week", a rather haughty tone was heard clear across the foyer room. Kaoru sighes in defeat…Megumi wasn't one for subtleness when she's upset.. _And how the heck does she know I was late three times this week?_ Despite her own irritated self, Kaoru for once gulped down her emotional words that almost surface up with no easy feat, and bowed her head politely, muttering words of apology to her supervisor.

Megumi was slightly surprised 'What have we got here? A subdued tanuki? Unbelieveable!' but unfortunately for Kaoru, she decided not to press the issue since they usually have a lot of work to be done on Mondays. So she only walked past the raven-haired girl and humph-ed as she went into her office, holding a steaming cup of coffee in her slender fingers.

Kaoru noticed this, and was grateful, although not knowing what force has made Megumi stop her tirade of complaints against her lateness, as she walked to her designated desk, suddenly feeling more optimistic about her day. And so, Kamiya Kaoru, 22, began her usual at work.

------------------

Monday 4.00 p.m.

On the other part of the town

A frustrated man was practically banging his fist on the table, while muttering curses against a certain someone. "&$….what a freaky, insufferable, #(#&…" more colorful words and animated gestures were on display, as the spiky-haired Sanosuke Sagara slammed the phone down at the same time. He huffed and puffed to let himself cooled down, threw himself on his black leather chair, and closed his eyes. 'No, this won't do!' he gritted his teeth as he remembered his old time comrade, Tsukioka Tsunan, a.k.a Katsu practically begged him to take over his place for a week.

(flashback)

A few days ago in Tsunan's Gallery…

"Come on Sano…I don't wanna be chained to my desk for months, I need a vacation too, for goodness'sake!" Katsu was using his pleading tone at best. Katsu was trying his best to persuade Sano to take his place for a week, for he desperately needs some air..

perhaps Hawaii doesn't sound too bad of a vacation…

No, not at all, he had even booked for his flight and accomodation before he asked Sano. He is _that_ confident that Sano will be easily persuaded.

"No way, I'm never good with this office crap, dunno what to do..heck..I don't even know what you're working here as!"

"This is such an easy job, I'm sure even a lazy-ass as you could do it! What you need to do is just pick up a phone and sign documents at the most!"

Sano sported a bewildered look on his handsome face, "Whaddaya say!"

Uh, oh…Katsu realized his slip of tongue, and decided to fix it before it was too late.

More pleading, forcing and persuading was definitely needed.

Finally… Sanosuke relented.

(and Katsu made a mental pat on his shoulder proudly)

But only when he was reminded that he was actually owing Katsu a favour from last time. Geez…why me? Why now Sanosuke shot a pained look when reminded of that favor.

Katsu, that lying, good-for-nothing comrade. He said only picking up phone calls and signing some papers, when in fact, more like, lots of phone calls that require his constant attention, and plenty of papers to be checked! Damnit!

Now, sitting down on a comfortable leather chair, surounded by cool air-conditioning humming softly in a nicely decorated office of Tsukioka Tsunan didn't help to ease his frustration either. And this was only day two, for goodness' sake! Suddenly the prospect of working for a week makes him dizzy. Him of all people, a free-spirited, adventorous, and laid back self does not appreciate being locked up behind some office desk, either. He opened his eyes and spotted stacks of papers and a blur of letters in front of him, so he stood up and reached for his jacket.

'This calls for some sake!' he decided, and out he went from Katsu's office.


	2. Work Interview

A/N: Here we go..hope it will get better as the fic continues…uh…I think I forgot to mention that the pairings in this fic will be slightly A/K, then E/K.. others I shall not disclose yet. heheh….: P Btw, Thank you for your review, Gabbyhyatt...

Disclaimer: RK is my best-loved manga, along with Yukishiro Enishi and Shinomori Aoshi. If only Nobuhiro Watsuki gave me the right to own the two of them at least…No? How 'bout just Enishi then? still…wishful thinking..

Chapter II Work Interview

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Kaoru was busy accepting calls that day, the advertising company she's working at has recently established itself and has been doing pretty well since its grand opening a few months earlier, and Kaoru somewhat felt lucky to have applied in for work last month, for she needed work desperately. At 22, with no one left of her family but her little brother, Yahiko, she was forced to defer her studies at Toudai to find some means to obtain cash.

A hard-earned cash, for her father was not a rich man and her mother had long since she passed away because of Leukaemia when Kaoru was a 12 years old girl. Yahiko was 5 then and he wasn't old enough to understand any of it. So since then, Kaoru was taking full responsibility for her brother as well as taking care of the house chores just as a mother would, since her father was away most of the time doing his business that neither Kaoru or Yahiko knew much about.

If before, Kaoru's father was a Master of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, since her mother's death, Kaoru was no longer trained by her father in the art of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, an art of wielding a shinai to protect one's self and others that she particularly loved to learn. Therefore, she started to learn it discreetly through her grand father's old books that she found in their dusty store room and hidden in mouldy boxes in the attic. Most of the techniques she learnt were the result of reading these books, as well as imitating all of her father's stances as much as she could remember.

Her father's death was quite sudden, and despite the initial shock and the sadness, Kaoru had to admit that she didn't feel quite as sad as when she lost her mother, because simply, she felt that she was parentless the day her mother died. Because soon after that fateful day, her father busily maintained a distance and buried himself with his neverending work day in and day out.

Thankfully, after countless days, months and even years rolled by, Kaoru was no longer bothered by the fact that her father almost completely ingnored them, albeit leaving a bit of money for them each month. As far as Kaoru concerned, he deeply mourned the death of his wife to the extent of paying no heed to the welfare of his two children. Looking back, Kaoru had to take care of a lot of things, and even in high school, she used to feel ashamed for having to shop groceries twice weekly, and each time she had to frantically hide the grocery shopping catalogue from the curious eyes of her classmates as they would've laughed at her if they had known. And boy, they found out one day, the event was so vivid in her mind that even she could still remember it…

---------------------

(Flashback)

Kaoru flipped the Daionji Supermarket catalogue absently during her lunch break, carefully observing some of the cheaper-priced groceries to buy later that afternoon, with her lunchbox next to her, while most of her friends went out to fetch something from the canteen. She was busy counting the items she wanted to buy and how much money she brought with her, when suddenly a spiky head perked up from behind her, and within the next minute, laughter erupted.

"Whoaa…Kaoru-chan cooks…eeww…look at her lunch, must've cooked it herself" there goes the mocking voice of the spiky brown-haired rascal, who was no other than Sano, the head of bad boys in her class…Kaoru could feel her face ripened like a tomato. She was speechless when a group of guys approached shortly after and laughed at her expense when hearing Sano's remark, even some girls tried to hide their giggles in the background and she heard them murmur incoherently, undoubtedly something bad about her.

She was rather a quiet individual and was a sensitive one at that, and what Sano had said was beyond embarassing for her and undoubtedly hurt her. But she was never one to simply surrender when the others shun her, so she stood up and defended herself.

She was embarassed, yes, but she was seething with anger too…

"SPLAT!"

…

…

Sano was taken aback by her action.

His cheek was bearing a distinctive imprint of Kaoru's hand, and he found himself glaring at her venomously, only he was surprised to see her raised her chin indignantly and glared back at him with an equally biting glare. Then she, out of her sanity, spoke her mind out, "That's what you get when you insult me, you arrogant Rooster-head! &()(&#$!" she said. Sano's eyes widened considerably, hearing the colorful words she had just uttered.

"Why you…" he was about to make a comeback..

Unfortunately, the teacher walked in on that exact time, and both Sanosuke and her ended up in detention after school.

"What the heck did you think you do before?" He grumpily started.

Kaoru glared stonily to him. '_Because of this rascal, I couldn't buy grocery today, dang…and they are on special today!'_ She was internally strangling Sano on her mind.

"You deserved it" was all she said.

She turned to face the window, her face sported a far-away look and she was determined to ignore the brat that was in the same room with her. Never mind he was one of the naughtiest, and feared brats in the whole school with his eccentric Sekihoutai group.

"Hmph…" Sano stayed quiet for a while. Then he turned to see her, before turning away again.

"…"

"I'm sorry" Sano suddenly voiced out quietly.

Kaoru was stunned. _Did she hear something? From him? What?_

"What?" She said, disbelieving_. Did my ears hear correctly?_

Groaning inside, Sano refused to answer her.

"…"

Her eyebrows twitched in concentration. Recalling his words, she looked at him. He was flustered and uncomfortable, and he turned away, with a hand rubbing his neck somewhat clumsily. She smiled inwardly and quietly approach the infamous brat.

_He's not as bad as I thought..  
_

Nudge he felt something on his shoulder..or rather, someone tugged at his shirt. He hesitantly turned, only to be surprised again, twice on that day, by the same girl, as she now flashed a genuine smile at him.

He was speechless.

"Thanks", she said softly.

Sano forced himself to say something "…Aa" …_Ugh, what a smart response that was_, he grimaced inwardly, suddenly feeling like he's turning into the famous smartie of their school, their neighboring class' senior, Shinomori Aoshi, also known as "icicle".

--------------------------------------------

She chuckled at that trip down the memory lane as she was sitting on her office chair, stretching her arms and her legs relaxedly that afternoon. Indeed, after that incident, funny enough, Sano and her became quite close and eventually became good friends, and she hang out with him a lot. He even called her Jou-chan! He said once that he admired her spunk and her courage at certain things, and she just laughed. He even became a good friend to Yahiko, of course, discounting all that yelling, gnawing and ocassional stiffles between them. Their classmates even thought that Kaoru was Sano's girlfriend! She snickered at that.

In fact, her high school years after that weren't as bad as before, quite delightful on the contrary, as she met different kind of people and learnt to develop herself all the while. Only when she was about to enter university, with an Art major in her mind, her father suddenly had a heart attack and passed away a couple of days after. She felt her world crumble once again, for she was a still a tender 18 years old, with a 11-year Yahiko tagging along with her.

She was forced to do part-time studies in Toudai, while working part-time in Akabeko, a busy restaurant near her district, owned by her mother's long time friend, Tae. She was so thankful that she got that job to help her and Yahiko get by. Unfortunately, the money she earned was not enough and she was forced to make a decision about her studies. So she decided to defer it, thinking that Yahiko needed to finish his high school as a more important consideration. Only then she started looking around for a higher-paying job, flicking the newspaper and calling companies around; but as she was inexperienced and without a university degree, she was mostly ignored, until the day she came across Kashiwazaki Advertising Co.

------------------

"Required, an enthusiastic person who's willing to work in team, full-time work, no priop exp. Necessary. Contact Honjo 0846772122, Kashiwazaki Advertising …." She read out loud on the newspaper she was holding. She quickly scanned the requirements, and without hesitating, picked up the phone and called the number.

"Hello, Kashiwazaki Advertising, Honjo's speaking, how may I help you?" a feminine voice was heard. Kaoru nervously licked her lips before answering. Soon, she found herself putting down the phone and letting out some air in a relieved puff of breath and was noting down her appointment for interview next week.

-------------------

Kaoru was combing her hair and applying a little gloss to her lush lips, while looking at her own reflection on the mirror. '_Do I look nervous?' _she pondered quietly. She made a quick check of her outfit, a clean light blue long-sleeved business shirt, _check_, a newly bought dark gray skirt, _check_, (she much preferred pants, though, being the tomboy that she was) a pair of stocking, _check_, and a set of black polished shoes to complete her look. Overall, she looks okay, if not plain, but she was determined to get this position no matter what, and she decided, whatever was lacking from her choice of outfit, she had to make up through her charming attitude.

O yeah, she reckoned she could be charming if she wanted to…

She took a folder with her resume and details, and off she went.

Kashiwazaki advertising company was located in the centre of Tokyo, in level 25 of a looming business building that had struck Kaoru with awe. A feminine figure greeted her in the reception area. "Good afternoon, how may I help you",the receptionist smiled at her.

_She's quite pretty_, Kaoru noted, suddenlylosing her confidence. But there's a certain something about the receptionist that isn't right. _Hmm…_She narrowed her eyes slightly, but completely dismissed that thought before she let out a smile and informed the receptionist of her appointment.

"Oh, so you are Miss Kamiya…I received your phone call remember? I was the one who schedule your appointment for today…Honjo, Honjo Kamatari", she offered her hand out, and Kaoru was nodding, offering a hand for a hand shake in return.

_Ouch…for a girl, she's got a firm handshake_, Kaoru winced inwardly.

Kamatari smiledas her eyes glanced at the intercom.

"Ah, it seems that the boss calls you, Kamiya-san…please come through", she instructed shortly after she saw a flashing red light on the intercom, and winked at Kaoru.

Kaoru nodded politely and followed her instruction.

While walking, they passed by a tall girl who looked rather disappointed. She was holding a folder and was looking every bit like an applicant who had just been interviewed. _DShe must be. _

_Did she fail?_ she pondered.

She gulped in an attempt to swallow her sudden attack of nervousness away.

The receptionist just smiled at her. "We're here", she said.

-----------------------------

Knock..knock…she knocked nervously. _Here we go!_

"Come in" a somber male voice replied.

She opened the solid double door, to come face to face with…

"Shinomori Aoshi, CEO of Kashiwazaki..please sit down, Miss…"


	3. The Boss

A/N: Err…please enjoy some A/K interaction first okies!

Disclaimer: RK is my best-loved manga, along with Yukishiro Enishi and Shinomori Aoshi. If only Nobuhiro Watsuki gave me the right to own the two of them at least…No? Well, how 'bout just Enishi? Who could resist a mafia boss who comes in such a beeauteefuul package.. drool No? Oh well…I tried..

**Chapter III The Boss**

Kaoru felt her eyes widened. _Is this not the….oh no…the infamous icicle from high school._ She cringed inwardly and supplied his query "Kamiya Kaoru, you could just call me Kaoru, Shinomori-san."

She didn't know why, but she felt her hope of getting this position was gradually diminishing. Shinomori looked at her and felt a sense of familiarity. His face was devoid of emotion though, as hiding emotions has always been his specialty, while he observed the applicant in front of him.

She sat down and handed her folder to him politely.

"Here is my CV and application requirements, Shinomori-san"

_Of all people…why must it be him who'll interview me? Is he even capable of talking_? She smiled at her own involuntary mental remarks.

"Very well, Miss Kamiya, let us start…" he let out one little corner of his lips pull out, and Kaoru almost fell off her chair. _Sit still, sit, S-I-T! it's not gonna be good to fall now. Wow…was he attempting to smile?…impossible! _She pondered quietly while her head nodded automatically.

Contrary to her thoughts, the interview was seemingly okay, Shinomori-san was asking questions that are not too difficult for her to answer and she thought she did all right. Until he asked her "I heard you have a fiery temper, Miss Kamiya, would you be able to handle the position that requires you to interact mostly with customers and not get carried away by your emotion in the process?" he casually threw the question to her.

She gasped, surprise etching her pretty features. He knew, damnit, he remembered those silly incidents from high _school! He's my senior, for goodness' sake, how did he even remember that! She wanted to just_ crawl under the table, hiding the flush that surfaced slowly on her face, creating a pinkish hue on her translucent skin.

Aoshi just waited.

She took a deep breath, and she answered confidently, "I'll be able to handle customers without losing my head, Shinomori-san" with a determined gleam in her eyes and the stubborn set of her defiant chin.

Aoshi smirked inwardly, remembering her outbursts in high school, where she had been closely acquainted with that loud-mouthed Sagara Sanosuke and his gang back then, and the fact that she got into a few troubles here and there along the way with her partner-in-crime. True he had been their senior, but he had no trouble noticing her fiery temper right away, so he felt like tossing that question in, just to see how she reacted to it, and he wasn't disappointed. The hot-headed little girl from high school had grown up, he acknowledged. Or so he thought.

"All right, Miss Kamiya, We will notify you in a few days of the result, thank you" he dismissed her formally.

"Thank you Shinomori-san", she responded with a polite bow and extract herself off the comfortable leather chair.

In the office after she has left, Aoshi looked through her folder and circled her name. Kamiya..Kaoru Kamiya…

-------------------------------------

Kaoru was still feeling dazed on her way home from the interview, _Jeez, I didn't know, does he own that advertisi_ng company? _Amazing, he's only a few years older than me, but he has his own company already_…she was quite awed. _O yeah, gotta pick up some groceries…_her thoughts wandered to a different subject.

"Oyyy…busu!", Yahiko yelled, he just got home from his Kendo practice at school and the house was quiet. _Where is she? She's usually home, singing with her off-key voice_, he muttered. rumble ugh…and I'm hungry, dammit….

Kaoru arrived with two bags of heavy groceries, _it had taken longer than expected, there were a lot of bargain-buys today!_ She smiled happily despite her tiredness, while walking into the house. _Hmmm….miso soup, agedashi tofu, teriyaki…what shall I make tonight?_ She was deep in thought.

"Oh, there you are, Busu, I shouldn't have worried that you decide to come home a bit late, after all, no one will do anything bad to you anyway…" Yahiko said rudely eventhough he sighed with relief at seeing his sister arrived safely at home.

Kaoru was seeing red. Aggravation after a tiring day, he's really looking for trouble! "YAHIKOOOO! Come here you little ingrate…, ill-mannered….." words failed her and she took a big white radish out of her shopping bag to throw at Yahiko. They were soon going around the house, like a cat chasing a mouse…Well, guess somethings will never change, ne? If only Shinomori Aoshi sees this, then, he'll take back his last remark about Kaoru…

---------------------------

Two days later….

"Hello, may I speak with Miss Kamiya?" a cool and smooth voice sounded.

"Yes, Kamiya Kaoru speaking, may I know who this is?" Kaoru was in the middle of her floor-sweeping routine when the phone rang.

"This is Shinomori from Kashiwazaki Company…I'd just like to inform you that you've just been accepted to fill in the position that you applied for. Would you be able to start tomorrow morning?"

so formal and stiff. You'll expect no less from Shinomori.

Despite the flat delivery, a crack and a thud was heard.

"…"

"Miss Kamiya? Are you there?"

Startled, "O yes, thank you Shinomori-san, tomorrow is fine, and it is Kaoru…" Kaoru blabbered incoherently,

Aoshi grinned at hearing her reply. He heard something before, oh, nevermind, he was certain that it would be quite entertaining having Kamiya Kaoru as his employee.

"Good, I'll see you at 7.00 am in the morning… goodbye Miss Kamiya"

Kaoru muttered her goodbye, then she looked down to see the broken broom that fell on her feet…._Oh damn, too excited, broke the broom, gotta buy a new one…_

And so she started on her new job that week…

----------------------------------------------

Takani Megumi was re-applying some powder on her face when she heard the new employee entered the ladies' room. She was quite surprised that Aoshi accepted such a young and inexperienced employee when she first learnt of it a few weeks back. True, she was at first, incompetent and clumsy even, and Megumi smirked at Kamiya's antics as she was adapting in the new work environment

Unaware of her sly smirk directed to her, Kaoru thought to herself…_ I think I missed Akabeko_.. True, the work is challenging as she was constantly learning to adapt with the environment and answer customer's queries as well, and yeah, she's having fun as well… but the people here…she felt her sense of pride is diminishing rapidly…they're all experienced workers…

Especially the supervisor that was assigned above her, Takani Megumi, she was beautiful, slender, sexy and smart all wrapped up in one. Oh, Kaoru felt so little in front of her. Doesn't help that she seems to exude a powerful aura and has her witty, sarcastic and often annoying remarks to throw at Kaoru's incompetencies. At times, Kaoru desperately wanted to cry and pull at her hair, but she knew she couldn't do such thing.

_Not when Shinomori Aoshi could be lurking and watched her childish antics anytime…Eh, where did that come from?_

_Since when Shinomori's opinion of her matters?_

She pouted.


	4. Frustration

A/N: This is actually the continuation of chap. III, but it was quite long, so I made it into two chaps..heheh..

Disclaimer: Uh-um.. since this is the continuation of Chaptr III, pls. see the disclaimer in there. I'm sure you all read disclaimers, like I always do...(Gah!)

**

* * *

****Chapter IV Frustration**

After a few weeks, she learnt quite a bit about her colleagues too. Apart from The Supervisor Takani Megumi, she also has another supervisor, a cute guy named Himura Kenshin. He has a fashionably long red hair that is tied up with a string, with a cross-scar on his cheek, and a very sweet attitude.

Kaoru smiled at remembering Himura-san rescuing her from the nasty claws of Takani-san one time, due to her slight mistake in the report she submitted to Takani-san. Like a knight in shining armour, he had come to defend her and later on, offered to help her out with the reports if she needed help. Kaoru could've hugged him right there and then just for that offer, but she refrained from doing anymore silly, childish stuff in her 'professional work environment'.

Under the supervision of Takani-san and Himura-san, there are five people working as a team, including Kaoru. Kaoru had come to know a bit about her fellow team members. One of them is Makimachi Misao, a lively, petite-built girl with dazzling pair of aqua green eyes, one that seems to completely adore Shinomori-san and kept referring him as Shinomori-sama… _tsk…teenager! _Kaoru shook her head.

Another one is the all around nice guy, Seta Soujiro, whom until now she couldn't guess his age.. _that face is definitely deceiving.._and the other two are Okon and Omasu, two "twins" that are freakily similar in their physical built and also known as the infamous gossip-duo of the whole office. However odd this team may be, Kaoru was grateful for all nice people in her alloted team.

Oh, and she learnt that the Honjo girl, Kamatari Honjo, the receptionist, was a woman-man, a man-woman? err…or whatever they call it, yet, he is quite a nice person, and he wears kimono better than Kaoru herself. Gee….she should've taken that Kimono class when she was younger. Kaoru was so deep in her own thoughts.

"How's work today, Kaoru-chan? Have you finished the report? Shinomori-san isn't one who patiently waits, you know", Megumi's voice was smooth and her gaze observant, startling poor Kaoru in her spaced out mode. Kaoru stuttered a bit in front of the refined woman.

"Aa..a..it's all right, Takani-san…I will get the report for today done before I tidy up", she bowed politely at the older woman. _Damn, why does she have to always sneak up on me?_

Megumi smirked. It's nice to irritate this girl, _she's quite predictable_, she thought, a sly smile's still plastered to her face, it's no wonder her colleagues nick-named her "The Fox" hohohoho….

* * *

Aoshi was studying a report on his desk, while someone knocked on the door. He glanced at the clock. 4.30 p.m. "Come in", he said in his deep, smooth-as-silk voice. 

"Shinomori-san…here are the reports for today…as usual, if there's any mistake, you can blame it to the newest employee of yours", she winked slyly.

Aoshi regarded her cooly while frowning inwardly.

_Did I make a mistake of employing her? I know she's competent and all.._

"Thank you Takani-san…you may leave them on the stack over there", he answered cooly. He dropped his gaze down to his paperwork once again.

_Hmpph…this does it! That baka ice-block!_ She mentally stomped her feet on the ground while trying to keep up with her cool façadeShe's been trying to get his attention for the past three, yes, THREE whole months to no avail He's simply cold and distant, and never responded to her subtle, quite subtle and not-so-subtle suggestions._ Heck, is he even a man? He obviously doesn't know how to treat a fine lady such as I am! _She gritted her teeth._ Perhaps a new tactic is needed, _She noted, suddenly a playful smile appeared on the corner of her ruby red lips.

Aoshi bowed his head while absently working on his paperwork. He still feels Takani's presence in his office…

_What is she doing here, I thought I've dismissed her…_

He internally shook his head.

_Maybe I should dismiss her in a more direct manner…_

He sighed inwardly. _Women…who knows what they're thinking about._

"Err…Shinomori-san, I…." she started..

A knock was heard, then a head poked out from behind the door.

"Excuse me, Shinomori-san, here is the additional paperwork that you required of me…I….O..Oh..I'm sorry, I didn't know you have a guest", a startled turned to an embarassed Kaoru stuttered, her face was slightly blushing now…

Aoshi looked at her with blank expression, making her feel uneasy, but then again, his presence has always made her uneasy.

* * *

(Flashback) 

_Bump!_

"Ah, gomenasai…", Kaoru was running late for class and out of her panicky nature, plus due to the fact that Hajime Saitou, yes, that freaky human biology teacher, teaches the first subject on that day.

She bumped into a solid wall…wait…no…not a wall…

"…."

_Icicle! Err..Shinomori! _Kaoru gasped. Three-years her senior, Shinomori was a cool star at Higashi Senior high, literally. He was smart, handsome, good at sport and has numerous other good merits, if only he wasn't that cold, he'd be a much better person, but girls liked him nevertheless, and boys wanted to be like him..

"Gomenasai, Shinomori-san", Kaoru repeated, blushing profusely.

Aoshi just looked at her with a blank look, and nodded, and off he went.

_He's a living, breathing, ice wall…_Kaoru decided then.

-----------------------------

She snapped back to reality. "I ..ah…I'll put it here…I'll take my leave now…Good evening, Shinomori-san, Takani-san", she said swiftly with a polite bow as she turned around in her flowy gray skirt that followed her movement and was soon gone as fast as she came in. Her bluish long black bangs gleamed as it was struck with the faint rays of sunset through the office windows.

Megumi and Aoshi were left in the office, their surrounding suddenly grew very eery and quiet. Megumi was startled.

_what additional paperwork? He asked her personally?_ She wondered.

Aoshi blinked his eyes. _What was that? Why did Kamiya barge in and out like that? And….err…why is Takani still here?. _He stood up and neatly put his papers away and tucked into his briefcase. _Homework, as usual.. _

He nodded formally at Takani Megumi. "Good evening Takani-san" and left. She just stood, rooted at her spot, she couldn't believe her ears. _Whaat!_

He took his leave casually, unaware, or perhaps, pretending to be unaware of the stare the lady was giving him. She definitely cast a rather menacing glare at his back. _This guy is impossible! _

Soon after…

"Aaargh….this calls for some sake!", she exclaimed in frustrration, and left his office with purposeful long strides.


	5. Sister Act

A/N: a bit of Kaoru and Yahiko.. by the way, I do apologize for plenty of typos and spacing that I made in the previous chapters... o yeah..and I take it that you all should have read so many RK fics to know all the simple Japanese terms that I use here... :) oh, nasu dengaku is grilled eggplant with miso paste, if my memory serves correctly.

Disclaimer: RK is my best-loved manga, along with Yukishiro Enishi and Shinomori Aoshi. All right, all right, I'll stop annoying you with my drooling over Enishi and Aoshi (wipes drool off )…sigh…

**Chapter V. Sister Act**

* * *

Kaoru was on the train, enjoying the privilege of being able to sit down for a while after a full day of going around the office. '_What is her position in the office again?'_ She accepted phone calls, made coffee for her colleagues, was asked to get lunch from nearby cafeteria, ran to get the papers for today's presentation, made reports for her supervisor and additional information sheets as per her boss' request…_'hey,I am a maid!_' her own thought suddenlybrought scowl to her face. 

_'Eh, by the way, what was it with the boss and Takani-san before? It seemed like I was walking on an odd situation. Mm….are they in relationship?'_ Something in her heart tugged at hearing her own assumptions. '_Why?' ...'Oh well…poor Misao-chan…if they're in a relationship, she has to forget her crush pretty soon. After all, Takani-san looks like she isn't the kind of person to share her affection…' _She grinned, remembering her own pitiful interactions with the older lady in the past few weeks. Kaoru tried to deny it, yet that odd tug in her heart wouldn't go away.

She arrived at their relatively small house a tad earlier than Yahiko. She looked at her wrist watch. Exactly 15 more minutes before that brat barge in and work up emotions that she wasn't even aware of possessing. She sighed…then perhaps she'll use this time to get some quality peaceful time. She changed from her work uniform, took her blue scarf off her neck, and into a comfy pair of faded blue jeans and a shirt. '_Yahiko is coming soon, what shall I cook tonight? '_

Although she always seemed to oppose Yahiko and vice versa, therewas no doubt about the fact that thereis no one else whois as close as Yahiko is to her. She is fond of him and she vows to take care of him like a mother. After all, their parents weren't able to provide that paternal love anyway.

"Oyy, Busu, I'm real hungry, I feel like I could eat anything, even the so-called food that you cook…" His excited tone of voice was heard across the house from the front yard. _Darn brat!_ She fumed inwardly, catching herself before she let her anger be transferred to the poor tofu in front of her. '_Wait,…yeah..do not react…yeah, tofu is getting pricey to buy, don't ruin_ _it!_ 'She carefully put down the kitchen knife she was holding, balled up her hands into fists and went after Yahiko, with a wooden bokken, her childhood plaything, gripped firmly in her hand.

"What the…!" Yahiko watched she came rushing down like a hurricane toward him, wide-eyed. He has no time to defend himself.

"THWACK!"

"ouch…that hurt, Busu!" he exclaimed, quite rudely. A wrong thing to say.

"THWACK!" Kaoru was merciless.

"Hey, what was that for!"

"That's what you get when you insult me, baka Yahiko-chan!" she stood next to him with a bokken in her hands, looking at her brother in smug satisfaction.

Suddenly she remembered that she said exactly that to Sanosuke when he insulted her back in high school. She grinned widely, one of her hand went up in a flash to ruffle the short wispy hair of her one and only little brother.

"Hey, why are you grinning suddenly? You're freaky, Busu!"

"THWACK!" Why do I have a strong feeling that you'll end up with a dozen bumps today, Yahiko-chan!

"Ouch, hey, I am fifteen! Don't call me that!" he fumed.

"To me, you're always my beloved Yahiko-chan!" Kaoru further aggravate the boy, earning a sour look from him.

"Well, at least I have learnt to tolerate your so-called cooking to some extent, Busu! For that you should be grateful!", he grumbled.

"THWACK! THWACK" another one for insulting my cooking, Yahiko-chan!

"Heeey! That's unfair! You have a bokken!"

And so the thwacking business ensued for a while, and the dinner was forgotten for another hour or so. The Kamiya sibling is such a close-knit family!

* * *

Akabeko was starting to pick up its usual crowd early that evening, as Sanosuke gulped his order of sake. He is so dead! '_How did he agree to work in place of Katsu for a week? He must've grown too soft these days…grrh…must be hanging around too much with Kenshin and Soujiro! That's why!'_ He pondered at his misfortune. '_How the heck would he know how to deal with these snobby art collectors? How did Katsu deal with these things?' _He tsked. _Katsu no baka!_

He let his head rest on the table as he lazily waited for his order. The tables around him were buzzing with customers who were mostly salarymen, _just like him_, he smirked, well, at least for a week. He quickly noticed that his noise around him kind of quietened downin all of the sudden, and Sanosuke was lifting his head off the table, quite curious as to whathas causedthe change.

A slender woman with long, raven hair was walking along with one of Akabeko waitress, Sano's favorite little girl, Tsubame-chan. She wears a lavender kimono with white flower pattern delicately embroidered, with a matching purple obi. She was a lovely vision that a guy like Sano would be happy to oggle at all times….She was directed to a table opposite of his, and she sat down on the tatami mat after she sent a little smile to the waitress. _'Woo-hoo...what a pretty sight!' , _Sano observed her through half-lidded eyes. _One has to be careful when observing a lady_, he inwardly remarked all-too-wisely. Too much bad experience at oggling girls perhaps? No one knew the answer.

She ordered shortly after, and Tsubame-chan brought her order of sake within a few minutes. '_She drinks alcohol?'_ He suddenly looked, in a wide-eyes Sano version. _Well, ladies don't usually drink much of alcoholic drinks...hmm._.. He noticed she gulped down the liquid like a pro, straight up, and then, pouring some more into the small earthenware cup. Sano's eyes got bigger.

Megumi can feel people stared at her since she stepped into the restaurant. She knew she's beautiful and all, but still, she felt a little self-conscious, 'A_h, whatever',_ _I only come here to sit ata quietcorner and have a few bottles of sake to calm my nerves anyway….Argh..that Aoshi!_ ' She itched to slap him hard for being so cold and distant. _Not a very good move_, she admitted, _since he was the CEO_...'As soon as she gulped her first cup of sake, she noticed from the corner of her eyes, a guy sitting cross-legged across from her table was looking at her.

_'Huh? is her mind playing her up? ….Oh no, indeed, he's watching….'_ This time, her fox ears didn't come popping out for she was rather distraught. Instead, she just checked and saw the guy watched her quite intently.

_'Hmm, Not a bad-looking guy'_, yet she ignored his lingering gaze and went to enjoy her sake, only to find that she felt kind of stupid to have gone into this crowded restaurant to get drunk. What if she met someone she knew from her office? It wouldn't be good if she was found out drinking, _especially if Shinomori_… She sighed. '_Bah! Whatever! Who cares for what that baka icicle has to say!' _She added mentally.

All the while, Akabeko's crowd resume their own affairs and no longer stared at the pretty lady who sat by herself and drank sake. They got taken aback for some reasons, and that was fine by her.

Sanosuke was lost in the little play of emotion in front of him then, for even if he wasn't a very sensitive soul, he could sense a bit of emotion displayed here and there by the enticing woman across his table. He was curious, that's all…So he, being his confident, suave self, scribbled something on a piece of paper and motion the waitress to the raven-haired goddess sitting nearby.

"Excuse me, Miss…"

"…"

"Eer…excuse me, Miss.."

"Ah!" Megumi yelped a little. She was deep in thought and didn't appreciate anyone disturbing it. An automatic frown and a twitch on her fine eyebrows gave off a telltale signof her annoyance. Tsubame paled, "A..ah, I'm sorry, I was asked to pass this", she politely handed a folded piece of paper.

Megumi felt a bit guilty for frowning at the small waitress, so she extracted a faint smile instead and nodded her thanks. Tsubame scurried soon after.

"Enjoying your sake?", the measly little note said. '_That's it? Who the heck…?'_ Megumi's frown came back to grace her pretty face and she carefully observe her surroundings. Her gaze eventually stopped at the spiky-haired guy sitting across her table. _Oh, here's the culprit!_ She was about to give him a piece of her mind when he met her gaze steadily and smiled at her, lifting hisown cup,his brown eyes crinkling at the corner in process. Megumi was taken aback at his oh-so-charming smile and momentarily forgot her annoyance. Forcing herself to react like a mature adult that she was, she nodded as she pulled another faint smile on her face for two whole seconds, then she looked down at her sake to avoid further eye contact with the guy.

Sagara Sanosuke was mesmerized by the cool smile she plastered on her face. '_Well, I was certain that she was annoyed by my little note, I guess it was a wrong move, but then, she looked a bit surprised'._ Not only that, he was intrigued too. '_Hmmm…and when was the last time someone intrigued him?' _

_'Must've been ages ago…'_

Megumi decided to call the waitress for the bill and she left shortly after.She was torn between throwing the scribbly little note that the spiky-haired guy wrote, back to him, or tucking it into her purse, for some bizzare,crazy reasons. Finally, she decided against the two extremes and opted to to do a neutral act: crumpled the note discreetly and dumped it on her way out.

Sano was quietly sipping his sake, the corner of his eyes never left her figure. '_Hmm…she's off…oh well…can't exactly chase her now_..' rather disappointed, but something tells him that he's going to see her again. Call it some sixth sense or whatever...

He smirked contentedly then.

* * *

"Yahiko! quick, come down, dinner's ready!", Kaoru yelled out while taking some nasu dengaku out of the grill, and the tempura off the frying pan. True, she wasn't the best chef around, as seen by the evidence of the burnt parts of the tempura, but she was improving, ne? 

"What's for dinner? Yahiko asked warily. He just likes to annoy his older sister, and he ALWAYS annoys her about her lack of culinary finesse, but hey, he couldn't help to be proud (meaning: discreetly) of his sister's ability to manage everything around the house. And yeah, she _is _improving, he admitted, remembering the earlier days of her cooking, constantly burnt rice, bland or too salty of a miso soup and an assortment of weird stuffs that she called 'food', but hey, now he can recognize a tempura, albeit it's kinda..err..burnt a bit..that hasgot tobe some improvements, right!

Yet, he wouldn't be caught dead admitting this.

So he just squinted his eyes and pretended to guess what it was.

"What is..that?" He pointed at the burnt piece of nasu.

"It's called food, now eat! Remember, it's your turn to wash the dishes tonight!", she refused to take his bait.

He just grumbled a bit more, typical of teenager of his age, and Kaoru grinned inwardly. They ate peacefully for a change.


	6. Life and Akabeko's Beef Stew

A/N: A bit about the boss too… Disclaimer: RK is my best-loved manga, along with Yukishiro Enishi and Shinomori Aoshi. Oh, great news! I can borrow Enishi for the whole week! I'm so ecstatic jump up and down joyfully - rather delusional.

* * *

**Chapter VI**

Shinomori residence, 8.00 p.m.

"Master Shinomori, your dinner's ready!", his ever faithful servant, Hannya appeared at the door.

Aoshi's orbs were pinned to the paperwork in his hands, '_Hmmph….eating sometimes is the ultimate weakness of human'_, he commented internally. He then nodded to Hannya without even moving his gaze off the paper. Hannya bowed curtly and disappeared from the edge of the door.

"Next week Kashiwazaki-san is visiting Japan and I'd like you to prepare a room for him as usual", Aoshi said during dinner to his servants. Hannya, Beshimi, Shikojou and Hyottoko. They nodded in silence. Kashiwazaki Nenji, a.k.a Okina, was like Aoshi's own father, although he's just an adoptive father who took the orphaned boy and gave him shelter when he was five, but Aoshi could never call him father, instead he always respectfully said "Kashiwazaki-san" or Okina-san at most.

Aoshi's residence was always quiet, well maintained and kept in its pristine condition. Since Kashiwazaki Nenji himself decided to go overseas, called himself a retiree, and left his business in 'safe hands' or so he said when he referred to Aoshi, Aoshi had lived alone with the four servants who had pledged their loyalty with him, never one to be bothered by the fact that Okina always pestered him to get married for once and all, and give him some grandchildren to play with. After all, he was nearing his sixties. Thankfully, those forceful acts were much less frequent now, although Aoshi never knew what goes into the screwy head of his adopted father, let alone his decision to come and visit him after being gone for almost three years.

Back in front of his beloved paperwork, his mind flew to today's events at work. Everything went smooth as usual. When he stopped by his new employee's desk to ask her write an additional report based on some customer's feedback, she was busy writing on her notepad and at the same time reaching for her cup of tea, and he couldn't help but grin at seeing her almost spilled her tea over the paper in front of her when he called her. She quickly collected herself enough not to yell at him and his grin grew wider at seeing her swallowing her angry retorts. _Indeed, she's growing up…_

His mind flew to another incident with Takani Megumi in his office. He had sensed her interest in him since the beginning, and honestly, he was getting quite tired at this pretentious act. He's had it with that kind of women. '_Why wouldn't she just call it quit!' _He sighed in exasperation. What exactly do women see in him anyway? He never seemed to encourage them, they just annoyingly stuck to him like leeches! _Leeches_…what an interesting analogy!

Aoshi was unaware, that despite his cold demeanor and the mask of indifference he always pulled out of practiced habit, he was a handsome man, not of a stocky or burly built, but lean and tall with all the correct placement of toned muscles that would make girls go ga-ga over him, his jet black bangs that almost cover his deep-sea blue eyes enhance his mysterious and sensuous aura. O, he was a handsome man indeed, especially if you ask Misao, who genuinely adored her Aoshi-sama. Not that he knew anything about Misao's interest in him.

Strangely enough, his mind kept drifting toward a certain raven-haired employee, the 'Spit-fire' Kamiya, not once, not twice, but three times today. And the fact that he kept count irked him. Perhaps it's just a 'new-employee syndrome' or something, he quickly tried to shove her image aside.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sanosuke arrived at his apartment, a little drunk but still pretty sober from drinking earlier that evening. Entering a small bachelor apartment, he smiled. It is a small but posh apartment with various car and motorcycle posters. On one side of the living room's wall, there is a display shelf with many of his trophies. He, after all, is a dedicated sport-lover cross dare-devil who accepted challenges as they come, hence the many trophies as the proof of his numerous achievements. The mountain climbing in the Himalayas, the parachute jumping, the bungee jump, the water-rafting, et cetera… 

The cordless phone rang as Sano turned on the stereo. It hummed soothingly in the background.

"Hello?

"Sano, my man, how's the work at the office?", a familiar voice sounded, a bit too cheerful. a cheerful song sounded in the background.

Sano's scowl immediately came back tenfold, "Katsu, you jerk! Why did you leave out so many details in your job description huh!", he shot back. "Come back and do your own work, you lazy-bum!"

Katsu laughed good-naturedly "Well I thought you are capable of doing simple things, am I wrong?", he asked innocently, still chuckling.

"Well, you are wrong. And these things ain't as simple as what you've said! Anyway, how's your vacation? found pretty girl? Look, you better be back here soon or I'll be forced to get rid of your customer one by one, man, how did you end up with this profession anyway!" Sano muttered that whole sentence in one breath.

Katsu laughed even harder. "Plenty of pretty girls, in fact, too many good stuffs here…in fact, I no longer care so much of my business anymore…"

The two buddies laughed out loud.

"Hey, listen Sano, I've met a potential client here, he's interested to go to Japan for he's been living overseas most of his life, so I thought I'd be a nice fellow and show him parts of Tokyo, I heard he might still have relatives in Japan, so we could help him look for them a little, whaddaya say?"

"Uh Katsu, I don't know what to say… since when did you get smitten by a guy, and, what do you mean by 'WE'? there' s no 'WE', I'm not helping you out anymore!", Sano yelled out.

Katsu choked against his fruit punch.

* * *

Kaoru visited Akabeko later that evening. She was too tired to cook dinner and she was thinking it's been awhile since she last made her visit there… Yahiko said he was going to go over to Yutarou's house, so she had plenty of time before he decided to come home. She couldn't wait to talk to Tae. She paced herself whilst singing a cheery tune…Her long raven tresses fell down and swayed behind her back, her azure blue eyes were shining as she sang, and the tiny smile she pasted on her lips really made her such a beautiful vision to look at, especially to the appreciative male passersby. 

Akabeko was pretty quiet at these hours, so she'd have more chance to meet Tae right away, she chided.As she walked into the restaurant…

"Irasshaimase….araaaa….Kaoru-chan! How have you been?" Tae greeted her warmly as she saw Kaoru approached her. She looked happy and healthy, so Tae smiled despite herself, happy that her friend's daughter found a slice of hapiness in whatever she's currently doing.

"Tae-san! I'm well, thank you! I miss you and this place so I decided to visit……ummm…actually…Yahiko is away, so I have more time in my hand…and I want to get some take-aways too!" she grinned naughtily.

Tae laughed full-heartedly. Kaoru has always been a nice girl, and she was feeling sorry for her when her mother passed away, and once again when her father followed within the few years lapse of time. She remembered the fearful looking, puffy-eyed teenager girl, the quiet and subdued girl she was becoming molded into by the number of turns and twists of fate in her life, but now, she's looking into the eyes of a happier, contented girl that she's become, especially since she got her job at the advertising company about a month ago.

Kaoru was happily chatting away when she realized that Akabeko was getting more crowded by the minute, so she politely stopped her conversation with Tae and gave her excuse to go back home. Tae was quite hesitant at first after she looked so energetic and apparently had quite a bit things to talk about, but she gave in gracefully when Kaoru insisted she was there for too long.

"Ne, Kaoru-chan, why don't you come by and visit us again with Yahiko-chan soon! After all, I've missed seeing you both and you'll get your favourite beef stew on the house too!" She smirked mischievously. Kaoru grinned widely. "Of course, Tae-san, we'd love to, I wouldn't pass that beef stew offer, especially the brat that's my brother..he wouldn't miss the chance too see Tsubame-chan anyway!", she chuckled.

"I better get going first, thank you for everything!", she bowed courteously, and walked out carrying a bag of Akabeko's famous beef-stew take away through the side entrance.

Without her knowing, a lone figure was approaching the main entrance of Akabeko. A lone figure with long flowing tresses, wearing an elegant lavender kimono…


	7. Complication by a certain Redhead

A/N: Uh….all characters come into play…faints due to extreme confusion..fan me with some reviews to wake me up, pleez..

Disclaimer: Nobuhiro Watsuki is the cool guy who created RK and its awesome characters. Even I could never borrow Aoshi/ Enishi…sobs..

**

* * *

**

**Chapter VII. Complications by certain Redhead**

* * *

The next few days passed by without much drama. If Kaoru was sensitive enough of her surroundings though, she would have felt the strained tension between her boss and her supervisor, Takani-san, but she ignored it completely, it's not her business to be nosy anyway… 

During lunch time, Yumi and Soujiro were talking about some new advertising campaign that their company launched a couple days before. Kaoru noticed that these two have been quite close together, and she has in fact heard rumours about them going out..but again, she minded her own business.

She couldn't stop herself from being slightly curious though, when she heard the latest goss from the dynamic-duo Okon and Omasu that Yumi and Kamatari have become the ultimate nemesis, for the fact that they both fell for the mysterious client by the name of Shishio. Kaoru shook her head at how typical it was to have two girls falling over and tried to get the attention of a guy, though she's never met this guy as well…_hmm…maybe Shishio-san is a bit like Boss, mysterious and distant…why do girls like that type of guy? _She mused.

She herself was having a hard time to hide her growing little crush toward her red-haired supervisor, Himura-san. She just thought he's one of the sweetest, most caring and sensitive guy she's ever met in all of her 22 years, well, 15 years, discounting her younger years. She did have a fleeting crush on Sano, although she didn't want to admit it. She remembered Himura-san offered to keep her company to the train station last time when she finished her work a bit late, how he offered to lend her his umbrella when it suddenly rained cats and dogs a couple days before that, and how he always seemed to be very helpful towards her. She blushed in her musings. "Baka, baka Kaoru! He's just doing it out of his good will, he's doing the same thing to everyone else here, better not get your hopes up! Don't think too much! " She absent-mindedly playing with her soba noodle, whirling her chopsticks and pull at her meal for the day lazily.

"….Kamiya" oh damn, she's even hallucinating…hearing himura's deep timbre of voice while at her lunch break…she closed her eyes and shook her head rather forcefully, as if shoving the said voice off her mind. Her soba twirled around her chopstick, her eyes still closed.

"….Kamiya" _oh, hush…stop it you! I have more pressing matters to think about…_Kaoru frowned at its persistence. These voices aren't usually that stubborn.. She managed to chew the twirled soba with eyes closed.

"…Ahem..Kamiya Kaoru"…oh, wait…Himura-san's voice isn't usually as somber as this….With that afterthought, she opened her eyes and looked up, horrified to see her boss standing nearby. _Oh Kami! Who would've thought…_All possible responses seemed to disappear out of her mind, so she did try her best not to sound stupid, _especially not in front of him._

"Aa…gomenasai, Shinomori-san, I was spaced out.. (d'oh)what can I do for you?" She said it a bit too quickly.

Well_, that_ definitely sounded stupid.

She could feel the dreaded blush creeping up her face for her cheeks suddenly become very hot.

_I can see that_…Aoshi mused. He was half-amused at seeing this particular employee's antics. _What was she thinking of? She looked so funny.._

"Well, I was thinking, since you are quite new in this organization, I'd like to ask you to learn a thing or two through these papers. I've put everything you need to know there. Let me know of your findings tomorrow morning", he said with a hint of finality in his usual cool, smooth voice.

Kaoru tried to hide her blush._ Baka no blush! Go away! _She nodded and uttered her response quietly and the next thing she knew, he was walking away.

_'Why do I seem to be uncomfortable around him?'_ She thought in despair_. I acted like a fool in front of him…and Himura-san _her inner voice added. Damn…she definitely didn't need a reminder. She grabbed the pile of files her boss deposited on top of her desk, and started to flick through the pages with a renewed concentration.

* * *

Meanwhile, a shadow was watching the exchange between the ice-man and the new employee, and she didn't like it one bit. 

Aoshi was thinking to himself, _why did I come to see her just to drop those files? I can easily ask someone else to do that_...He went into his office and was about to grab his jacket when he heard his phone rang. "Aoshi, why don't you meet up and have coffee with us, Himura's cheery voice filtered through his cell phone. "Who with, Himura?", he asked. "Ah, just some old friends..Come down here and you'll see..anyway, you need a break from the office, right?"

_hmm…Himura seemed to encourage him to come, wonder why?_

Aoshi's thought flew back to the Kamiya girl….""Err…Aoshi? You still there?" the voice sounded again. Then again, perhaps he needs a break. "Ok, where are you guys?" ….soon enough, he hung up the phone and was making his way there.

* * *

Megumi gripped the back of her padded office chair, imagining the back of the chair as Kaoru's little neck. _How could he so casually talk to her? What did he see in her? Arrgghh….she was so out of his league, for goodness' sake, I'm much better looking, much more elegant, and way smarter than the little tanuki! I fail to see how…I cant believe I'm jealous of a mere tanuki! _A light bulb flashed in her head.. AH-HA! She has an idea….She loosened her death grip and smiled ferally…It's not just a coincidence that her colleagues called her Kitsune…for she was truly a foxy woman..

* * *

"Aoshi! Here!" Himura Kenshin's voice was heard. Aoshi glanced to his right and saw a group of his old friends, and a couple of new faces, and he walked toward their table. 

Aoshi nodded to Shiro and Kuro, two of his friends in high school, and they smiled in his acknowledgement. Aoshi never was a person of pleasantries. He then turned around and saw the familiar spiky hair with a red bandanna. He raised his eyebrow slightly before nodding to him. _'Imagine that, he hasn't changed at all!_ 'Aoshi mused."Hey Shinomori! You haven't changed a bit since high-school", Sano exclaimed loudly. Aoshi smirked inwardly, _ironic_…

"Aa..so have you, Sagara" was his only reply.

Kenshin continued, "Here's Tsukioka Tsunan, a famous contemporary artist as well as art critic…He's a friend of Sano's and he just got back from his trip overseas a few days ago…" Tsukioka, a.k.a. Katsu shook his hand, "Shinomori-san, nice to meet you".

"Same here, Tsukioka-san.." he responded cooly.

Hesitantly he added, "Then, aa…this is my friend…", his already shaky voice faltered. Aoshi twitched his eyebrow in surprise to hear his hesitant note. He looked up and nodded to greet a beautiful dark-haired lady in pale porcelain skin whose wearing a traditional red kimono with speckled with tiny white plum flower's blossoming buds. After a quiet "Konnichiwa", she demurely bowed her head.

He snickered discreetly…_soo….Himura's got himself a girlfriend.._

Kenshin was smiling sheepishly, his cheeks reddenned as he introduced her. They resumed their conversation soon after, mostly with Sano's dominating jokes and Katsu's sarcastic wit.

During the course of their casual gathering, Aoshi sensed the awkwardness of the environment had somewhat settled to a more relaxing one. He sighed, sipping his green tea. He always settles for nothing but green tea, in that sense he's very predictable. Shiro and Kuro were talking to him, while ocassionally asking Katsu about his art gallery.

At one point, Katsu decided to spill a secret and embarrass Sano, "Well, know what, last week when I was overseas I've asked Sano to take my place for a while, what a wrong decision it was!", he chuckled. Everyone else on their table laughed, even Aoshi gave the tiniest of smile, or at least attempted to.

"Hey Katsu, you pickin' a fight?", Sano growled, a tad bit embarassed.

"No, I'm just stating the obvious, plus, it was fun to imagine you being in the office, doing some office work!", Katsu added.

Now they're laughing even harder.

Kenshin smiled, "Maa, maa…Sano, Tsukioka-san's right, it does seem funny to even imagine you being at the office, knowing you're such an outdoor-sporty type of person", Kenshin tried to calm him down.

"Hmmph, as if I didn't know it better, if only I knew you went overseas just to chase some girls, I wouldn't have done the favour you've asked", Sano said, attempting revenge.

Katsu's face was pinkened slightly. Everyone in their table gasped, then laughed some more.

"I didn't!", he denied. "Well, I did meet up with some clients there…", he defended meekly.

Sano's eyes rolled in disbelief "Yeah right!"

…"Yeah, in fact, I was going to take him to meet you guys, but he hasn't come yet til' next week", Katsu ended in a reassuring note. Everyone smiled at their banter. Sitting next to Kenshin, the ever graceful girl smiled at her boyfriend's friends' antics.


	8. Here comes the Leading Man

A/N: Oh, here we go, here we go! (squeals in joy ), uh, and sorry, I can't resist mentioning the car...it's my dream car! heehee..

Disclaimer: Nobuhiro Watsuki is the owner of RK. Don't worry, I'm only borrowing the two handsome characters for this story (and a handful of others of course..) just for a bit longer..

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**Chapter VIII**

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He looked into the mirror and saw a reflection of himself. Cold, piercing turquoise eyes stared back at him. The stark silver-white of his bangs stood out, framing his masculine face. A tiny earring piercing his left ear. He straightened his suit. _Another gathering.. this sucks…life sucks.._ He put on his glasses and walked out of his apartment, walking in long strides to his car.

He has left Japan seventeen years ago, bound for China illegally when the Revolution war broke and amidst all the chaos, he got separated from his family. Never mind his family, he never cared about both his parents who totally ignored him, his father who was a wealthy government officer and his mother who was a daughter of a successful banker. People once said their marriage was a match made in heaven, to him, it was more like hell. During those chaotic times, his father were killed due to his close connection to the Japanese Government. His mother was most likely got killed as well. Not that he wanted to know anyway...

Of all these, he only remembered one face, that of his sister's.

A face that haunted him for a very, very long time.

She was an angel, she was his refuge, with her he felt calm and safe.

_Yes, only with her.._

Sadly, when he and his sister were running away amidst the chaos, they got separated and he never saw her again. Until now. He went looking around for her, day and night, but alas, she wasn't there. The ground seemed to have swallowed her whole, leaving him alone, pained to the core of his being.

Shanghai was doing odd things to him, but it, ironically was also the main factor that shaped his life. He grew up from a poor little beggar who, with fiery determination, worked his way up through a dark world full of manipulation, dirty politics and plenty of blood shed, in order to become what he is now. Oh, and has he mentioned he killed all the members of the family who adopted him, at one stage? Yes...but all that he has done, he has done only for one cause…only to find his sister again.

He had long since hardened his heart and his soul was filled with nothing but a heaped measure of emptiness. Though he wasn't one to dwell on one's own past so much, but he couldn't help but think about her all the time, her serene, beautiful face never failed to soothe his aching heart. _Onee-san…where are you?_

The tall figure went into his sleek, metallic black Le mans Quattro, the latest in tow of his impressive collection of cars. After all, if there was any good side of being a mafia boss, this was one of them.

The car pulled out smoothly and within a matter of minutes, it stopped to a halt, in front of Intercontinental Mandarin Hotel, in the heart of Shanghai city. Immediately, people turned their curious heads and was awed by the sight of the impressive car, and once he stepped out of it, there were a buzzing sound of people talking all at once, and sight of girls that were suddenly smitten by the equally impressive owner of the car. Yukishiro Enishi stood tall, leaving the car in the hand of a valet car officer, whose jaws dropped and eyes went as huge as a pair of saucers noticing the kind of car he had to park. It's a good thing he didn't end up peeing in his pants as well...

Enishi turned a deaf ear towards the mumbling mass of people and confidently walked into the convention hall.

_Just a left over work before a little trip to Japan…This time, I will find you, Onee-san… _was his last thought before entering the hall.

* * *

Kaoru was writing her findings on the files that Aoshi wanted her to check out, when out of the blue, a bouncy Misao Makimachi appeared in her line of vision, scaring her out of her wits. She shrieked. Misao winced… "Wow, that was loud, Kaoru-chan!", Misao said, covering her ears mockingly, a wide grin plastered on her youthful, cute face.

Kaoru pouted. All thoughts in her mind ranaway when Misao startled her. She remembered one other person who has been constantly startling her in these past couple of weeks.. _Arrghh...forget it!_

"What is it, Misao-chan?", she interjected.

"Weeell….here's the thing...I've been thinking about going shopping, and was thinking, if you want, let's go together this weekend, just for fun…all this work is driving me crazy and I need an outlet… what do you think?", she let out another grin.

Kaoru liked her idea, and was thinking to herself '_hmm..when was the last time I went shopping for fun?' _Maybe it's not such a bad idea.

Weighing her decision, she nodded slowly "Yeah, that actually sounds good..You've finally got some good ideas for a change", Kaoru said, grinning now.

"Yokatta! Yep, we'll have so much fun….erm…actually, I've made up a list", she halted for a few seconds to pull out a rather big piece of paper. "Okay, here we go: at 9 am I'll come over to your house, then we'll go first to Shibuya, then Harajuku, Oh, also don't forget that nice café at Ginza….", and she blabbered on and on and on…

_Err…did I make the right decision?_ Kaoru mused, hearing her colleague rambled on..

A figure appeared behind Misao. Kaoru was struck speechless, again, for the -nth time this week. She was going to warn Misao, but her voice suddenly went missing. Aoshi looked at Misao half-amused, and at that moment, Kaoru felt a tug at her heart. Strangely similar to the feeling she got when she walked in on her boss and Takani-san's conversation. She didn't know what it was. Whatever it was, all she could say is that it wasn't a good feeling.

"Afternoon, Makimachi, Kamiya"…the owner of one of the most beautiful voices (as voted by Misao), spoke at last.

Misao stood dumb-foundedly, she stopped mid-sentence, and her expression was priceless. Normally, Kaoru would've laughed out loud at her expression, but not now. That would be _too mean_.

She turned around and stuttered, "aa..er..Ao..Shinomori-san, good afternoon", the younger girl responded nervously.She almost bit her tongue for calling him Aoshi-sama. Discreetly, she folded the big piece of paper in her hands.

Kaoru gulped, '_I hope Misao wont get into trouble for chatting away during working hours'…._She bit her lips nervously. "Good afternoon, Shinomori-san".

"So, did you find some results from those papers?", he enquired, pointing at the stack of file he left earlier.

"Yes, in fact, I was going to finish typing my findings and give them to you soon", she answered simply.

"Good, looking forward to reading it", Aoshi calmly, if not mockingly, responded.

Misao's feet got stuck on that exact spot as she listened to her Aoshi-sama made a conversation with her colleague. She couldn't believe her ears. _'He just completely dismissed me and talk with Kaoru!'_

"Makimachi, haven't you got anything to do?", Aoshi turned to face the blushing Misao. '_But then again, not completely dismissed yet'…_

Mortified, she excused herself to go back to her desk and acted busy. Aoshi's glance once again fell to Kaoru, "Well, I'll be expecting..it this afternoon".

She nodded and he walked away.

She shook her head. _Poor Misao-chan.. _

Aoshi walked to retrieve the newspaper on his desk when he was halted with a nagging thought, '_I almost said I'll be expecting her in my office..what's wrong with me?'_


	9. Destination: Tokyo, Japan

A/N: Didn't expect Katsu ever meeting Enishi huh? me neither…(kidding..I know where I'm heading...not! eheheh...anyway, I can't tell you that, right?)

Disclaimer: I'm all set on a mission to go to Japan to take over RK from the hands of Nobuhiro Watsuki. Err..maybe not…

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**Chapter IX. Destination: Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Narita Airport, 7.30 p.m. 

"Welcome to Tokyo, Yukishiro-san!", Katsu extended a polite greeting to his guest. Yukishiro Enishi arrived from Shanghai this evening and Katsu picked him up at the airport. _Out of his goodwill._..he added.

"Thank you, Tsunan-san", he replied formally. Wearing a formal business dark gray business suit, a stark white shirt without a tie and carrying with him a compact suitcase, he still looked very business-like in every aspect of the word. A pair of glasses and a yin and yang earring were present as his normal accessories.

"You must be quite tired of the journey, let us drop you off at the hotel first and we could get something for dinner later', Katsu suggested.

"I've booked in Tokyo Imperial already, if you could just lead me there. Actually, I've had dinner before, so I'll let it pass this time, thank you for the offer.", the turquoise-eyed man said smoothly. That was probably one of the longest sentences he's ever said.

"Sure, Tokyo Imperial isn't far…..how was your journey?", Katsu relented, half relieved for he didn't have to keep his guest company for too long. _Gee…he's even worse than Shinomori!_

"The flight was long and boring", he supplied as an incentive for the chatty guy to shut-up. '_He talks too much. I think I much prefer going to Japan on my own._ _As soon as I'm rid of this guy_…_For now, better keep up with the pretention!' _He made a mental note to himself.

"I see…" Katsu frowned internally_. Well, well, this certainly is a big mistake! Damn, I've made two fatal mistakes in these past weeks; first, it was Sanosuke, now it's this guy. Am I getting rusty?_

The rest of their journey was spent very quietly. Katsu was generally remarking on how Tokyo has gone this far in its development, especially in the new reformed era. Enishi responded using his cool, one word answer in turn. So he gave up on attempting further conversation.

Enishi inwardly sighed in relief.

"Here we are…Tokyo Imperial hotel", the taxi they rode stopped at the entrance, and the two men stood up and climbed out of of it. The hotel was worthy of it name and stood up to its reputation, Tokyo Imperial was built for more than seven decades ago, and was still going strong. Pristine white marble flooring and pillars, plush red carpets, crystal chandelier, and traditional fresh flower arrangements adorned the tables beautifully. all signifies the term 'posh' and elegant at the same time. Enishi was checking in while Katsu took in all the sights around him. The dazzling lights of skycrapers, cars and city lights combined together to form an interesting concoction, he should say…if only he has his paper and drawing equipment..or better yet..his camera...

"Thank you Tsunan-san. I will contact you again soon", Yukishiro was suddenly standing close-by. His hand no longer carrying the compact suitcase anymore, just a couple of keycards for his room instead. Katsu just nodded and smiled, "Not a problem, Yukishiro-san, let me know if you need a hand with anything while you stay in Tokyo" '_Damn, isnt he creepy' _he muttered inwardly_…_Enishi thanked him once again formally before he turned around to retire to his room.

* * *

Two weeks later… 

Kaoru was combing her long, lustrous tresses of her hair while humming softly, her slim body was wrapped loosely in a piece of towel. _'Ahh…tomorrow is finally Saturday! So happy!'_ shopping with Misao-chan seemed like a refreshing idea at that moment. Of course, today's turn of event was not expected. Firstly, her boss was kinda complimenting her on her findings, albeit very very subtly, but she was sure it was intended as a compliment, which she didn't expect at all. And Misao was a little bit curious, if not jealous, as Shinomori-san approached her desk once again to ask her to undertake a new project. _Solo._

…She sighed. Anywaay….on with Misao's plan to go shopping tomorrow. She hasn't felt this excited for a long time. And to know that Misao-chan and her are fast becoming good friends is great too! She pulled out her pale pink sleeping yukata out of her wardrobe, and tied it up securely around her slim waist and smiled. She felt happy that Takani-san wasn't around today to pull out snide remarks on her, for today, Himura-san was the supervisor. '_Aahh'…._her eyes twinkled as she dreamily re-enact her conversation with him today.

"Kamiya-san, I think you can start doing the project as soon as possible. It'll be very useful for you to learn more about advertising through this project. Also, I've heard you've got some arty streak in you, so perhaps you'll get along with the client better", he winked playfully.

She blushed.

"Ah, sou desuka, Himura-san? I'm really flattered...mm, who is the client by the way? Shinomori-san hasn't mentioned the client's name to me", she politely inquired.

"Oh, really? …hmm..he does seem a little forgetful lately…" he grinned widely. "Well, if you haven't been informed already, his name is Tsukioka Tsunan"

"…Eeto…Tsukioka…Tsunan? I seemed to have heard it before…"

"Yeah, actually he is quite the trendsetter, as both art critic and an artist, his works are quite widely sought", he explained.

Something clicked inside her brain. "Oh? …_That_ Tsukioka Tsunan, the famous contemporary artist?", she exclaimed, half-shocked.

"Yes, that's the one, do you know him?", he asked, his oh-so-sweet smile still present on his face.

"Er…no, not really..but I heard…" more hesitantly .. "he's quite popular…among..err..women", she finished her sentence, rather abruptly, cheeks delightfully pinkened by the sentence she just blurted out.

_'Kami…what did I just say?'_

Kenshin just chuckled at her innocent comment.

Kaoru wanted to disappear at that moment, but she willed herself to ask a nagging question that suddenly popped out in her head.

"But..Himura-san, why did Shinomori-san want me to take this project? It sounded a little bit too much for someone like me who's just been working for a couple of months.." her voice piped up.

Kenshin's chuckles slowly subsided, he cleared his throat.

"Well, I gather that Shinomori-san trusts you enough for you to undertake this project, Kamiya, so, I'm sure that you'll be able to do it, even if you've just been working for a few months…"

'_A good point to ponder, Kamiya'…_ he noted.


	10. Tanuki and Itachi

A/N: Weasel rocks…

Disclaimer: Watsuki Sensei is the creator of RK. I admire his creation. Yea, only admiring…nothing else.

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**Chapter X. Tanuki and Itachi**

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_

_Trust..? Does he trust her?_ Flustered, she simply nodded, and tried to avoid Himura-san's observant gaze as she fumbled with her pile of folders on her desk yet again.

True, that was as far as the conversation went, but at least she was making some effort to talk to him, _and he was really nice to talk to, kind, polite, and always has that really sweet smile on his face. I wonder how would it feel to ki..ss… Stop right there_! She forcefully stopped her hentai thoughts, blushing slightly.

She shifted her thoughts to her little brother. Hey, even Yahiko was surprisingly polite today, she remembered thwacking his spiky head only twice today, _now that's a big improvement!_ She noted. Then her curiousity got the better of her and she frowned, _hmm…is there something that he's hiding from me?_ He looked innocent enough today, and for once he wasn't complaining about the meal..ohh…that's right! Akabeko's beef-stew's also his favourite! Oh, and he was sleeping over at Yutarou's tonight, so that's why she feels it was a little quiet around the house…

_Gee, I actually miss that brat when he's not around_, _oh the irony of it _...she smirked, before falling into a deep slumber.

* * *

Exactly at 9.00 a.m. the following morning, her bell downstairs rang noisily. Kaoru was in the bathroom, putting on her lipgloss when she heard it. _Must be Misao-chan_! She thought, smiling at the frantic sound of her door bell. _At this rate, it'll probably break down very soon.._

"Ohayou, Misao-chan!", she opened the door, greeting the petite girl who was clad in cute blue shirt and jeans and was looking exceptionally fresh that morning.

"Ohayou, Kaoru-san! I didn't wake you up right?" She said mischiveously.

Kaoru almost thwacked her head just as she usually does to Yahiko.

"Nope, actually I'm ready to go now…so let's go!", she said enthusiastically instead.

"Right-o! Hey, this house's pretty big, do you live here by yourself?", Misao asked.

"I live with my brother..but let's not get to that yet", Kaoru grinned.

"Ow, I know what you mean…let's go then!". Together they made their way to Shibuya.

* * *

"Aww..Kawai na kore!" Misao pointed at the pale yellow halter top that was hung on the display window. She pulled Kaoru into the shop to have a look.

"Waaah…this is very cute!" She pointed out a short while after.

It turned out that Misao was a very heavy shopaholic. She could shop for twelve hours straight if she wants to, and today, it would be no exception.

At lunch time, both girls have roamed half of Tokyo, and currently was having lunch at Akabeko, as Kaoru suggested.

"Hey, this place reminds me of my hometown…" she commented as she took in her surroundings. Apparently she has never eaten there before.

"Really? Where do you come from, exactly?", Kaoru asked.

"Kyoto…anyway, there was this nice restaurant called Shirobeko there, and mmm…I have to admit, the similarities of the place is strikingly close, it's kind of freaky…" she munched on her chirashi-set.

"I should remember that when I go to Kyoto one day…I just love the beef-stew here", Kaoru admitted,

"Oh, you mean you've never been to Kyoto?"

"No, not really…I'd love to though, perhaps next time…" she cast a faraway look.

Misao threw her next sentence absently, "Well, Aoshi-sama is also from Kyoto.." then she abruptly halted her sentence.

Kaoru's face lit up with mischief. "Eh? Did I hear you say something, Misao-chan?"

"Aa..err…n..no…", she blushed deep crimson.

"I believe it has something to do with a special someone", Kaoru winked.

"….." Sigh…."Well, as a matter of fact it does..", Misao decided to give up her pretention.

Kaoru perked up her ears, and listened attentively to her colleague's dilemma.

"Actually, I cant even recall when I first liked him, but I guess that's what you called love at the first sight…We were living in the same neighbourhood and even went to the same primary school. He's three years my senior, you see… I know you must think it's just childish infatuation, but hey, this feeling survived this long…I was so crushed when he moved to Tokyo during his high school years, and never once returned to Kyoto..at least that's as far as I knew it.." Then one day after finishing my senior high school, I decided to pursue my career in Tokyo…and took a diploma in Journalism and Marketing…one day I bumped into him at the train station and I had to find out what had become of him…" She stopped to take a deep breath.

"So, here I am…working for him..well…I'm still hoping that somehow…somehow he could see.." _that I am a woman, not a mere child…_words failed her. Misao looked so unlike her usual self. Kaoru took a sip of her capuccino, before she patted her friend's shoulder with a cheery smile on her face. _'This needs to be remedied, and quickly!_' Kaoru's mind whirled with ideas.

".Ne..Misao..Everything will fall in its place in due time, just be sure of that…err…what do you think about that shop on the corner…I've been eyeing that for a while.." Misao looked up, seeing her friend's cheery smile and saw through her sincere way in providing some consolation.. She smiled grimly at first, then she felt Kaoru's hand squeezing her shoulder lightly. _Kaoru's right…there's no point in trying to replay this over and over again…it only causes sadness on my part. _She smiled with a renewed gleam in her eyes.

"Ne, ikimasho?" Kaoru repeated, relief washed over her at seeing her friend's facial expression. They called a waiter and paid the bill before rushing down to see the 'corner shop' Kaoru has been hinting about earlier. From afar, they looked like two long-lost sister that found each other once again.

At the end of the day, they had so much fun that they even decided to make it into a weekly ritual. Oh, and Kaoru recalled Misao's first meeting with Yahiko. Within the first five minutes, they were ready to start a war, knowing both of their temperament. _Gah, and here I thought I have a bad temper_. She laughed out loud when Yahiko called her 'Weasel', and Misao, in turn, found out by coincidence that he truly loathed the suffix '-chan', and she kept calling him Yahiko-CHAN. A really great battle ensued right after that.

* * *

Yukishiro Enishi clenched his teeth in irritation. He has been in Tokyo for almost a week, and the search for his sister bears no fruitful outcome whatsoever. Of course, for one thing, he can't prance around Tokyo to look for her as easily, being a mafia boss, so he has to work up a plan and utilize these fools around him, with a little bit of incentive too, he thought grimly, to assist him in finding her. He knows a thing or two about being discreet, that he is very sure of. 

The funny thing was, he doesn't know what he'd do if he ever found his sister this time. Would he bring her back to Shanghai? _Then what..disappoint her by letting her know that I'm a mafia boss?_ Or should he stay in Japan? He threw a side-long glance on the big windows in his room. Bright neon lights and the promise of exhilarating night life await ahead of him, but they don't seem too attractive now. His sister's face appeared on the window, as usual, looking sorrowful just as he remembered it on the day they got separated from each other. _Onee-san, wait for me…I'll find you!_ He clenched his fists, the cold turquoise hue behind the dark rim of his glasses reflected a certain spark within their depths.


	11. Meeting an old friend

A/N: Kaoru's first meeting with some old friends…

**Disclaimer: **Nope, I have no ownership of any of RK's character.

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**Chapter XI. Meeting an old friend**

Kaoru sat nervously in front of Tsukioka Tsunan's Art gallery. Quite a spacious building, with plenty of his work hung on the walls side by side artistically. She had an appointment to see him today, as scheduled by his secretary, a young woman, if Kaoru was to guess, for Tsunan was quite well-known for his advances toward fine female species.

Shinomori assigned her to do this project, and she determined to do it well for some reasons. So here she was, clad in her slightly modified work uniform, the white business shirt, a gray skirt, and a fresh white and fuchsia scarf around her neck, contrasting to the deep sea-blue of her eyes. She brought with her a proposal that Himura-san has helped her with earlier this week, _sigh_, _he is so nice ..._and hung on her shoulder was her black leather handbag.

The receptionist greeted her rather cooly, perhaps with a little bit of curiousity that irked her. Kaoru quickly took a fleeting glance to her name tag, it read 'Sayo'. So her name's Sayo huh? she might think that I'm here to be the next victim of her boss. she smirked at that morbid thought

"Please follow me, Miss Kamiya", her soft, feminine voice made her realize of where she was. She quickly smoothed the imaginary wrinkles on her shirt and followed the receptionist quietly.

Only to find out an unexpected sight unfolds before her.

* * *

Sano sat on Katsu's desk and talked to him. They were discussing new technological gadgets, especially in the field of weaponry as they both have the so-called 'fetish' about knives, swords, guns and the like, when Katsu's receptionist knocked softly on the door.

"Damn Katsu, I thought you said you had no appointment today!", Sano said, his eyes flew to the door's direction. Katsu laughed, "Well, I didn't say I wasn't a busy man, unlike some lazy-ass like you!", he snickered.

"Whaddaya say, you are some lazy ass! You're the one who was on vacation last time, remember?" he shot an incredulous look.

"Yeah, proved me wrong. I regretted taking that vacation, for my company made a big loss within the one week you took over", he smirked triumphantly, a pure teasing tone lingered in his remark.

Sano snorted, "Yeah, yeah, whatever…I'm going for lunch…see ya later", he slid off the table to walk off, while Katsu called on his receptionist to enter.

"Excuse me, Sir, Miss Kamiya is here…" she politely bowed her head and made her way out as soon as she said it.

Kaoru was quite nervous._ No, no, no, do not fidget…I can do this._ She took a deep breath and entered the office.

Sano's ears caught what the secretary said, but only the last couple of words registered on his mind. '_Miss…Kamiya?'_ His eyes rounded up as big as saucers as he saw her enter the office. Those sea-blue orbs, long raven tresses, petite figure…

…Kamiya…Kaoru?

"Jou-chan!" he shouted out loud before anyone had a chance to say anything.

Way beyond startled, Kaoru shot her head up, a clearly confused look was etched on her pretty face, then she saw spiky brown hair and red-bandanna. _Can't be…. _She was struck speechless.

Sano ran toward her and took advantage of her surprise. He hugged her in a tight bear-hug. She was so surprised that she coughed a little. Her face suddenly mottled pinkish in awareness of where she was.

Weakly she said, "S..Sano?" as her forearms came up to pull herself out of his embrace.

Katsu was amused. Clearly he was. His best friend was hugging his guest, _mm..ex-girlfriend_? In his office in front of him, no less.

So he stood up, offering his guest a glass of water from a handy water dispenser close-by. "I didn't know that you are acquainted with my friend, miss Kamiya, but I do know that perhaps you'll need a drink", he cooly remarked.

Kaoru was mortified. So, this is Tsukioka Tsunan himself. His tall frame, Long brown bangs, laughing dark chocolate eyes, and a decidedly wicked grin was plastered on his face. _Kami, I'm doomed!_

"Aa…I'm sorry for being rude, Tsunan-san…I am Kamiya Kaoru, from Kashiwazaki Advertising", she bowed, thenpolitely declined the cup of water in his hand. Sano grinned next to her. He ruffled her hair casually all the while, messing the silky black tresses in the process.

"Oy Jou-chan, I didn't know you could be so polite", he added.

Kaoru glared at him menacingly. It reminded him on his first encounter with her in high school, so he laughed again. "What are you doing here, Sano?", she asked in a clipped tone. She was embarassed beyond belief yet she had to put up with this until she finishes her task. _Oh, the unfairness of it all_…she cried inwardly.

"Well, Katsu's my friend", the Rooster-head was quite annoying, Kaoru decided. Katsu smiled at them as he decided to butt-in "Hm…friend? I'd say no longer, for what you've done, embarassing this poor lady", he said.

"Damnit Katsu…Jou-chan's my high-school friend…can't help it, hasn't seen her for ages…right, Jou-chan, hey, what are you doing these days?"

"Aa...I'm working", she said simply,completely avoiding him."Er, Tsunan-san, I have got a proposal with me today, would you like to have a look at it?", she enquired, hoping that this meeting will end quickly. She couldn't stand Rooster-head ruffling her hair in front of Tsukioka Tsunan, and the fact that the said person seemed quite amused at seeing it.

"Working? Just that?..", Sano grumbled, obviously minding at being ignored.

"Sure, Kamiya-san…have a seat, and please don't mind the stupid Rooster-head, he's about to go out anyway", he dismissed Sano right away.

"Heeyyy….I've changed my mind, I think I'll stick around a bit longer", Sano interjected. "After all, I really haven't seenJou-chan for ages!", he grinned boyishly.

"Nope, out Sano, we're about to discuss confidential matters here…you better come back later", Katsu refused to relent.

"Gah, Katsu, you ARE annoying!", he exclaimed.

"Thank you, I tried my best..", Katsu smirked.

"..hmph..fine! I'll come back later, I'll see you soon Jou-chan!"

"…"

"Don't mind him, Kamiya-san, he's just a fool, really…", Katsu tried to assure her.

Kaoru smiled sheepishly…"Aa, Tsunan-san, I'm sorry for the trouble.." her pretty face was pinkened akin to the colour of her fuchsia scarf, well, maybe a little paler. Katsu saw this and was mesmerized…._cute.. _He cleared his throat.

"Not a problem, so, you've got a proposal for me to have a look, you said?"

"Yes, here it is…" She pulled out the paperwork from her white folder and handed it to the man.

* * *

Kaoru spent the next 45 minutes in Tsunan's office. It turned out that he's very relaxed and quite a nice person to talk to.

"Well, I quite like your proposal, Miss Kamiya, just those little details I prefer to omit from the proposal, that's all"

Kaoru nodded as she noted down his preferences.

_'It would be great working with him'_, she thought with a smile.

Katsu observed her face from his seat, the corners of his eyes crinkled a fraction as she smiled.

"Have you eaten lunch?", he suddenly asked.

"Ah, yes, I've had a little…", she answered somewhat honestly. Again, her face flushed a cute pinkish hue. '_I like a straight-forward answers'_..he mused.

"I'm about to have my lunch break anyway, why don't you just join me? Then we could talk more about your interesting proposal..and I know a nice place to eat nearby", he said confidently.

Kaoru was hesitant. Would she be considered rude if she decline the offer?

"Mm….I.."

"I'm back!', a loud voice was heard across the room. For once Kaoru was grateful for the interruption. Both of them whipped their heads at the loud interruption.

"What'cha doing to Jou-chan, Katsu? You're not flirting with her are you?"

"Shut up Sano, what a bad timing…I was about to save her from you..", he shrugged casually.

Kaoru can't help but smile at that comment. She responded, "Don't worry, Tsunan-san, it should be Sano who'll need saving…I thank you for the offer, but I think I better go back. I've taken quite a bit of your time, and I need to go back to the office", she refused politely.

"Gah…if I didn't know better, I would've thought that she just rejected you, Katsu", Sano tried to rub it in, as his lopsided grin returned. Katsu frowned at him. Kaoru couldn't stand idle any longer and she impulsively threw a punch at her old friend's arm rather seriously.

"Ouch, Jou-chan, you've gotten better than when you were at high-school, I think my arm's badly wounded", he joked around.

Kaoru was surprised at her own action, _Oh no, not in front of Tsunan-san!……but….hereally deserved that punch! _She just shrugged and pull out an irritated face. "Hmph…I'm glad about that"

If Katsu wasn't amused enough, he'd be very amused by now.. his grin widened. _Hmmm….there will definitely be some interesting details he'd have to ask Sano later…he has a feeling that this girl isn't just an ordinary girl…_

"Come Jou-chan, I'll keep you company back to your office…I wanna talk about old times..", Sano once again ruffled her hair. She pouted cutely.

"Stop it Rooster…you're messing it up", and to the famous artist, " All right, Tsunan-san, I will see you again later", then she turned around and left the office, not bothering to wait for Sano.

"Hey, hey, Jou-chan…wait up!..Ja, Katsu!", he turned and ran to keep up with her, slamming the door in the process.

Katsu shook his head and tsk-ed, looking at his now closed office door.

Suddenly the phone rang.

"Hello?…Ah, Yes, Yukishiro-san..how can I help you?


	12. The First Assignment

**A/N**: …..what do you think, dear readers? pls. review..

**Disclaimer:** Nobuhiro Watsuki gets all the credit for creating such awesome characters for me to use. and (gulp) Megumi has drinking problem..heheh...

* * *

**Chapter XII**

**The first assignment**

* * *

Pant..pant…."Ooy, Jou-chan…you walk quite fast for a girl, you know" 

And then "..and wasn't that a bad way to treat your good ol' friend?", he added, smirking now.

"Shut-up Rooster, you just ruined my first appointment with Tsukioka Tsunan!", she glared at him.

"Oh, is that why you got so worked up?", he grinned, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to slow her pace.

"Of course not!", she half shouted in exasperation. She'd lovetomeet her old friend, but not at the expense of sacrificing her newly found job, that's for sure. She took three deep breaths, calming her jumbled up nerves.

"You practically had to embarrass me in front of my first client, didn't you! ", she lashed out.

"Wha…no way, I was just so surprised at seeing you there, that was all…haven't seen you for a long while coz'…", he smiled goofily, a bit taken aback by her outburst,

"Well…just letting you know, that was my first important interview with my first important client, so I don't wanna stuff it up!", she said in half-murmur, lacking in her initial fiery reaction.

"Well…I'm sure you did well, Jou-chan..and Katsu's my best friend, he'd know that I wasn't trying to make a fool out of you!", he said, while putting his right arm around her shoulder in a brotherly way. She smiled. Sano is always like that.

"…Still..I don't appreciate having to punch you in front of him..", she pouted cutely.

Sano let out a hearty laugh and ruffled her hair once again.

"Hey…I'm not Yahiko, Rooster!", she pretended to be upset, but her wide smile says otherwise.

"Oo yeah…where is that brat? Has he grown up too? Just like you? I was so surprised seeing you there looking all pretty, Jou-chan…to think you went through all that trouble just to meet up with Katsu….Sigh.." He snickered.

Kaoru threw another punch, just as powerful as the previous one….she blushed and smiled at the same time.

* * *

Sano sent her to the entrance of her office building, and she bid him good bye, but only after she promised to hang out with him sometime later that week. Kaoru's face lit up as she bounced her way back to her little desk. In truth, she was quite happy to see Sano, one of her best buddies in high school. She can't wait to see Shiro and Kuro, too! She was excited about Tsunan's acceptance of her proposal albeit it wasn't done as perfectly as she could've, due to Sano's interruption, and was excited about the prospect of meeting up with her old friends, when, she turned to get some drinking water, wasn't aware of the dark-haired man approaching closely. 

"Oof.." she bumped into a wall.._oh, how embarassing_! As if the embarassment of the day wasn't enough, the wall that she thought was no other than her boss_! Kami…will I get fired now? I've bumped to him one time too many.. _and she wasn't aware yet that his hands were holding her about her waist, steadying her, and her own hands sprawled against his broad chest.

Her sweet smelling hair and skin surrounded him, and he suddenly felt dizzy.

Kaoru recovered not as quickly as she hoped, but she felt strangely warm when she finally felt the pair of his hands holding her waist to prevent her from falling completely. She wasn't sure of what to do when she finally was able to stand up right. Her knees were a little shaky, hands were a little sweaty and her face was undoubtedly blushing again, goodness' sake,_I can't seem to stop blushing in front of this guy!_

Their surrounding suddenly turned quiet as the two of them met eye to eye…

"…You should be careful, Kamiya-san", he said finally.

"…A..anou…gomenasai, Shinomori-san….and thank you", she replied timidly.

He nodded and proceeded to walk to his office, and Kaoru was left alone. She steadied her trembling hands _They have touched Shinomori's chest…Aargh…._She pinched her own arms towake herself out of her most recent stupor.  
She quietly took a peek of her surrounding. She was lucky that no one seemed to be around, for it was already around 3.30 in the afternoon…

_Oh, Kami, I just hoped Misao has gone home…_.before she could exhale a relieved breath, however, she heard something. She whipped her head around, only to see Takani Megumi looked straight at her with an intent to kill. She shuddered... _If only eyes could kill…_

"Why, our little Tanuki here obviously have the hots for Shinomori-san…I should've guessed, considering how intimately you threw yourself to him just then", her voice dripped with venom.

Kaoru was taken aback. _How could she…this woman is…is…is evil! _She fumed internally, but a bigger, sane part ofher didn't want to cause commotion, so she forced herself to calm down.

"There was no such intention whatsoever, Takani-san, only if you've arrived a little earlier you'd have seen that it was a mere accident, but then again, I doubt that you could take it either way" As soon as she said it, she regretted it. _Darn, I said too much..._

Megumi gasped. _This little tanuki!_ "Oh, you dare oppose your supervisor now, Kamiya-san?" she retorted mockingly.

"I assure you I don't, Takani-san, but I think it wouldn't have mattered…", she backed down carefully and was soon out of her reach. She counted from one to ten to help calm her nerves.

Realization was quick to hit her.

_My goodness...what did I just say to my supervisor?_

* * *

Megumi felt so angry at the little Tanuki's comeback. She didn't think that the little Tanuki would gain that much insight…well…granted she might not be very discreet in her quest to win Shinomori-san, but still, she didn't expect HER, of all people, to have said something like that! The nerve of that girl! 

_'I think I need some sake to calm myself down',_ she took a glance to her wrist watch. It was almost 4.00 p.m.

_I'm off now,_ she turned on her set of classy high-heels out of the building.

* * *

Imperial Tokyo Hotel

Friday, 9.00 pm

Yukishiro Enishi sat in his hotel room's spacious office area. He stayed in a suite after all, so that facility wasreadily accessibleto him. Katsu was sitting across him, his face serious.

"..What do you think, Tsunan-san? I just need a simple yes or no answer from you", he said flatly.

Katsu was weighing his options. If Yukishiro was really the successful, ruthless businessman that he's heard from a few trusted sources, then he should be flattered that this guy 'asked for his help'. Well, not exactly pleading, from someone like Yukishiro Enishi, is absolutely a no-no, but he was actually offering a relationship beneficial for them both. His gallery and artworks expansion to the greater parts of China? That sounded too good to be true.

_But, the condition….?_ He was deep in thought.

"Aa, if you would, Yukishiro-san, I'd have to think over it before I can give you a definite answer", he honestly said.

"…Very well…Let's decide then, two days from now, I will see you again to get your decision. I will be meeting you at Murasaki Lounge at 7 pm", he answered fluidly.

_Damn, this guy seemed to outdo me all the time. It's like he has answers for everything… _Katsu grimaced inwardly.

"…That is a sound idea, Yukishiro-san. I will see you then", he stood up and nodded curtly.

Yukishiro was looking out of the window of his hotel suite when his guest has departed.."_Soon, Onee-san…"_

He was feeling a bitrestricted inside his suite, so he decided to come out and be amidst the night life of Tokyo. Perhaps this would help him forget about everything for a little while…He quickly changed into his black shirt and a pair of jeans, a black coat draped around his broad shoulders. He pulled his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and he slipped out of his suite soundlessly.

Meanwhile, in front the gate of Kamiya Dojo... 

"Oy Jou-chan, quick! We're waiting for you to get ready, why take so long? We'll just see the same tanuki anyway"…he said jokingly.

Kaoru opened the sturdy wooden gate of her house with murderous intent in her sparkling blue eyes. She punched Sano fast and hard, on his arm, again. He winced, yet his grin was unrepentant.

"Man, I think it's pretty much dead by now!", he said, looking down at the poor battered arm of his.

"Don't you dare call me that, Rooster!" then she noticed two other figures standing just behind Sano. She yelped joyfully, "Shiro! Kuro!" and embraced them both tightly, How dearly she missed them all.

"Kaoru-chan! How have you been!", they smiled despite her tight hug. Their little Kaoru has grown up beautifully. They stopped to admire her long raven hair that flow down her slender waist, her translucent complexion, her intense blue orbs that shine like two pieces of fine sapphires, and her cute little smile. She was wearing a white tank top with black cardigan and a white knee-length skirt. Simple, but she absolutely looked stunning in it.

"Ja, we're all here….let's go", Sano smirked seeing his Jou-chan hugged Shiro and Kuro until they almost expire through suffocation.

"Eh, where is Yahiko?", they all said in unison, looking around, expecting a little boy prancing around like what he used to be doing before.

Kaoru smiled, "He's working part-time at Akabeko.He insisted on night shifts, so naturallyI figure that he must've a crush on one of the waitresses... you know, looking for an opportunity to walk her home at night..."

They all laughed. "Yahiko? Our little Yahiko-chan? Unbelieveable!"

The four of them walked down the streets of Tokyo, happily reminiscing about the old times.

* * *

Yukishiro Enishi was entering the new lounge in the heart of Tokyo, Equatorial, in his usual calm demeanor. Girls around the place were whispering and even there were some who tried to get his attention, to no avail._"Hnn..foolish girls…"_ he mused inwardly. He went to the bar and grabbed some drinks for himself. Vodka sounded tempting enough. He ordered just that. He was there, brooding at one corner, getting some flirty glances from some of the girls, but he ignored them completely, his mind already wandered far off elsewhere.

At the same time...

Sano was suggesting them to go to the new, hip club, and they all agreed. Apparently Kaoru didn't care so much on their destination, all she cared about was the fact that she meets up with her friends and they're going to have fun tonight. They all made their way to Sano's choice of place.

"What do you wanna have Shiro, Kuro?"

"I'll have some Gin n' tonic", Kuro answered.

"I'll settle withthe same thingfor now thanks" Shiro added.

Kaoru was eyeing the various shapes and sizes of the liqueur and spirits bottles on display and weighing her decision... _Hmm..what to drink..? _

"Jou-chan? Wait…you can't have too heavy stuff here, we all know your weakness"

"Mou, Sano….I thought we're going to have fun!', she pouted, making them all grin widely.

"Nope, knowing your tolerance level to alcohol…get something light." Was all Sano said.

"Uh..huh…I'll just have some lemon lime bitters then…" she answered in defeat.

"Right-o!" he ordered for all of them, and Shiro motioned the rest of them to a cosy corner complete with a plush-looking sofa.

Kaoru's eyes grew wide in excitement. She loves sofas to sit on and her low-tolerance-alcohol-issue was quickly forgotten. Shiro, Kuro, and Sanojust looked atone another and chuckled.

"So, Kaoru, what do you do at your workplace? Shiro asked as soon as they settled down on the sofa comfortably. "We heard you're working in advertising company…what position exactly?"

Sano couldn't resist to butt-in "We can safely assume that whatever position she's at, she'll be a constant pain to her boss.." Kaoru gasped before she punched Sano's shoulder.

_'Do I? Do I annoy Shinomori-san?', _She thought briefly.

Shiro and Kuro were grinning from ear to ear now. "Is he right, Kao-chan?"

"No way! I'm in marketing division..", she shook her head vigorously.

They converse relaxedly and joke around, until Sano said to them, "Oh, by the way, I asked Katsu to come along, but he seemed to be late, probably busy chatting up some girls"

**_Thwack_**!

"Eeyow…what was it for, Jou-chan? I didn't even insult you"

"Eh, it wasn't me", Kaoru said innocently, and for once, she was innocent, for Katsu stood there, looking casual in his dark blue shirt and jeans.

"Well, Sano…you practically asked for it, talking about me behind my back"…he let out a sly smile grace his lips.

* * *


	13. At the Lounge

A/N: Katsu can be quite suave, ne? and, O yeah, Okina has arrived in Japan..

Disclaimer: RK isn't mine, blah..blah..

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* * *

**

Chapter XIII

**At the Lounge

* * *

**

"Ah, Tsunan-san, how are you?", Kaoru greeted him politely. Katsu blinked at her, "Kamiya-san? Sano wasn't telling me that you were coming as well…what a pleasant surprise!"

"Cut it out, Katsu….you just wanted to say that if you knew Jou-chan's here you wouldn't spend so much time chatting up the girls, huh?" Sano asked, a hint of amusement evident in his chocolate brown eyes, his arms protectively thrown over Kaoru's shoulder, earning the girl's dark scowl.

"Shut up Sano….and I wasn't chatting up girls…"

"Yeaaa….if pigs could fly"…Sano rolled his eyes.

Kaoru giggled all of the sudden. "Aa, Tsunan-san, you can just call me Kaoru…forget the formalities", she said coyly.

"With pleasure, only when you agree to call me by my name, though...Kaoru..", he smoothly replied.

"Darn Katsu, I really think you've spent too much time with the girls, your words are so polished and charming it's just so unlike you!", Sano aggravated him further.

They all exchanged playful banter as the evening rolled its course.

* * *

Later that night..

Kaoru excused herself to go to the ladies' room a short while later, and she was soon trapped within the crowd, the mass of people that gathered there was incredible. She was trying to push her way to the ladies' room before she lost all the breath that she had, for the lounge was getting quite stuffy even with the full blast of the air-con. She was feeling rather happy when she managed to go past a few people, until some guy, most likely a drunk person, walked past her and collided with her, sending her off balance and eventually hit something solid. She had to suppress her shriek as she felt her body lost its momentum and swayed a little.

'_Damn high heels!'_

'_Is it a real wall this time'_

She thought in annoyance, looking up only to find the clearest, most incredible pair of piercing turquoise eyes meeting hers in a intense eye-to-eye gaze. She was so mesmerized seeing the man before her that she couldn't utter a thing, just her mouth slightly gaped open for a few nerve-wrecking seconds.

Enishi was astounded at the petite girl who bumped into him square on his chest. _She subtly smelled of sweet jasmine blossoms.. _He took a glimpse at her silky black tresses that pooled around her waist. Her raven hair reminded him of his sister's, but the gleaming blue orbs that looked up to him definitely were not hers. Her lush lips parted sensually without her realizing it. He was a bit disappointed when she finally pulled back, cheeks pinkened becomingly as she stuttered her apology.

"G..gomenasai….", she bowed swiftly and made her way out of there promptly, without waiting for a reply.

Enishi didn't even have time to say a word when she fled off. He brought a hand to his messy silver mane and smirked, noticing her cute backside as she turned into a corner hurriedly. "Hmm….", his thought stopped suddenly as he noticed a figure looming over at one corner. He narrowed his eyes a fraction, trying to identify the said figure.

_Tsunan's here? _

At the ladies' room….

Kaoru gasped, huffed and puffed for some air…._now that was quite…er, what's the term for it? ...electrifying_! Yeah, definitely certain odd sparks had been there, she pondered quietly…She flushed deep crimson as she recalled her colliding into another unexpected figure. '_Uggh…as if I don't have enough of bumping into people already! First was Shinomori-san, then_ _this…this…nn…striking guy!_ _Why do these good looking guys suddenly appear from nowhere?'_

'_Not that I mind, it's just that I always seem to do foolish things around good-looking guys', _She thought, rather irritated.

Content at just watching, Enishi sat down onto one of the plush sofas, sipping his Vodka, his arctic eyes never leaving Katsu and his group. He twitched his eyebrow at seeing the girl who bumped to him earlier walked to them_. 'Is she one of his acquaintances?'_…He frowned at his own thought and shrugged…'_Why do I care'_…He kept observing.

Shiro and Kuro was getting to their third rounds of alcohols that night. They've just moved to sit closer to the bar, obviously not wanting Kaoru to be tempted, when Sano's voice was heard.

"Hey, Jou-chan, want to dance?" Sano asked with a playful wink.

"Not on your life, Rooster!", she replied, sticking her tongue out and squinting her eyes cutely.

Sano ruffled her hair as a punishment and Kaoru let out a small yelp of surprise.

"Mm…I wonder, shall I try my luck then?", Katsu's smooth voice was heard, just as the two old friends were about to start another battle.

"Dance with me, Kaoru?" he asked cordially.

Kaoru blinked her eyes a few times. Her fists were balled, ready to knock the Rooster's jaw, when she heard a silky smooth voice from another direction that made her halt her actions.

_A Dance! Is he serious? _

_But... I don't dance…I never dance, _Kaoru thought frantically. _There is no good way to put it…_

"Umm….Katsu-san…I ...I ..cant really dance", she blurted out, a sheepish smile broke out on her oval-shaped face, and her hands were suddenly finding themselves entwined nervously, a sweet blush threatened to rise up her cheeks again. '_Damn!'_

Sano blinked a couple of times. He has put up two hands to defend a potentially vicious blow from Jou-chan, and when the blow didn't come, he wondered why. Katsu's words did come across to him, though, and that was why rumbling laughter was soon tumbled out from his lips, and he immediately sat down to prevent himself from falling flat on his bottom.. "Gosh, Jou-chan…I didn't think you'd ever do good thing to me…well, turned out this time you just did! Thanks for refusing to dance, I know I've just avoided a number of painful stomps of your high-heels on my feet!", he said, smirking widely.

Just as the Rooster wiped off the tears of mirth from his dancing chocolate orbs, an embarrassed Kaoru acted on her impulse. This time, she actually stomped on his feet. hard. "There Sano, now you know how it feels", she said smugly." Now, if you'd still like to have that dance, Katsu-san..", she turned her face to Katsu's immediately.

Sanosuke let out a long, pained howl as Kaoru's pointy three-inch heels stabbed his poor right foot. It was Katsu's turn to laugh.

* * *

Enishi was frowning when that spiky-haired guy messed up her hair, but that frown turned to a cool smirk when she stomped on his feet. _That gotta hurt…That girl is pretty interesting…I wonder what's her relation to Tsunan…_He observed as the girl gave a sheepish smile to Tsukioka Tsunan as he spoke of something, before she nodded, a tad bit reluctantly. The eccentric artist and the girl stood up and made their way to the dance floor. Now he knows that Tsunan was asking her to dance.

Some unknown reasons rose up inside him to make him glare daggers at the guy.

"You can just call me Katsu, just as you called the baka Sano by his name. this isn't an office, Kaoru..", he said.

Kaoru nodded, "Hai...then...I'll call you um..Katsu".. then, grumbling lightly, she added.. "You're right...he's the same baka Rooster...hasn't changed one bit since high school...no wonder he hasn't gotten himself a girlfriend yet"... she replied, smirking now.

Katsu smiled his approval, instantly liking the playful sparks in her deep ocean-hued orbs.

Katsu felt someone was watching while they made their way to the dance floor. '_hey, my training with the Sekihoutai years ago wouldn't get wasted that easily'. _He slowly turned his gaze toward a certain direction, and saw a familiar tall figure sitting, his silver-white locks gave way almost instantly.

'_What is he doing here? That creepy…'_

Immediately he turned to the girl next to him, seeing that she was unaware of the creepy guy's presence just yet, and quickly decided that he doesn't want to involve anyone else, especially someone as innocent as Kamiya Kaoru to even meet this guy, so he stopped in his track, turning to face Kaoru.

"Um, Kaoru, I just remembered that I've got an appointment somewhere else, I'm really sorry that I have to leave you with Rooster-head for now…Perhaps that dance, we can save for later..", he smiled apologetically, with a playful wink that crinkled the corners of his eyes handsomely.

Kaoru looked at him perplexedly, then sighed in relief discreetly. _Great, now I don't have to dance with him…"_It's all right Katsu, I'll see you later then!" she gave a dazzling smile that caught Katsu's breath as she turned back to her table, already thinking about torturing Sanosuke some more.

* * *

Oddly enough, Enishi found that her smile was quite spell-binding. It was almost like soothing his need to see his Onee-san smile…

"Yukishiro-san, what a coincidence!" He smiled neutrally despite his initial protest of having to call off an important matter such as a rare chance to dance with Kaoru…

"Evening, Tsunan-san", Enishi replied, nodding curtly before he resumed to sip his Vodka again.

Uneasiness rapidly grew between the two business men…"Well, how did you find about this spot by the way? You're here on your own?" Katsu blurted out, unable to stand the silence.

Enishi just twitched her eyebrow ever so slightly..

'_Damn, where did he and Shinomori master that eyebrow twitching technique?', _Katsu thought.

"I was just dropping by", he answered while putting down his now empty glass, then stood up, his eyes hidden behind those dark shades of his. "I'll see you at Murasaki tomorrow, with your answer, Tsunan-san", he added coolly as he turned around and made his exit. Katsu just stood there, his eyes narrowing as he watched the silver-haired guy went off, pondering about his answer.

* * *

**AtShinomori Residence that Friday night**

"…"

"What time did Hannya go to pick Kashiwazaki-san, Beshimi?"

"Well, he should be here anytime now, Shinomori-san, he has been out for a while now", Beshimi answered him.

Soon after, there was the all-familiar sound of the Benz that Hannya was driving.

Shikijou opened the entrance to Shinomori's estate.

" Yoohooo…Aoshi! Where are youuuu?", a man's cheerful voice was heard clearly across the entrance and up the stairs.

"Here, Okina…where else would I be?", Aoshi replied dryly, as he stood at the end of the stairs, still wearing his work suit

Kashiwazaki Nenji, or Okina frowned at seeing him, "Ah, you are still doing it! I thought I've told you to cease working so hard, Aoshi!", he scolded his 'son' playfully.

"I heed your advice Okina, now, have you eaten?" he quickly switched the topic.

"I haven't eaten yet…anyway…how are you, Beshimi, Shikijou, Hyottoko? Has Aoshi treated you well?", he playfully winked at the loyal servants.

"Definitely, Okina-san!", they answered in unison, somehow the mere appearance of Okina amidst them has brought a lighter mood in this lavish estate.

"Very well, then, tell me, has he got a girlfriend yet?", he added, smirking.

They all tried to hide their grin…

Aoshi cleared his throat…"All right then, Okina, let us eat", he said in an attempt to avoid that path of conversation.

And as usual, he was quite successful.

"Aah, my favourite Japanese food! Is there anything good to eat here in Tokyo? I thought Kyoto has the best food around", he grinned widely.

"We've got some food from Akabeko, master Shinomori, as Okina-san would surely like to try", Hannya said.

"Very well…let us try some", Okina replied, his eyes twinkling in delight. He is a sucker for authentic Japanese food, even though he has been living in the United States for years now.

"Mom…..this is good! Where is this Akabeko place? I should go there tomorrow!", Okina said, munching on the crispy tempura.

"I could take you there tomorrow after work, Okina..", Aoshi offered, he was eating his sashimi set quietly, a steaming hot green tea sits in a cup next to him.

"Great! I hope I don't impose on you, Aoshi…you being very busy as always", Okina said.

"Of course not, then I will take you to see some developments on the new Advertising Company we've launched four months ago" he added.

"Good, good…I'd be delighted to see it!", the old man commented.

They finished their meal and shortly after a brief conversation between the two, they retired to their respective chambers.

* * *

A/N: A long chapter, I hope to appease you all... see what you think...drop me a review, ok! 


	14. What a weird dream

A/N: nuthin' to say now...heheh

Disclaimer: See the previous chapter's pls. :)

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* * *

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**Chapter XIV **

**What a weird dream**

* * *

Kaoru woke up with a hangover.

"Unnggghhhh…………...", she squinted her eyes as she tried to focus her eyesight. What did I do last night? ….nn…Me and Sano, Shiro and Kuro went to that lounge bar…I had just a bit to drink..then what? She tried to recall last night's event. 'Oh, that was it! Stupid drinking game! Why did I go on and played with those heavy drinkers?' She scolded herself, now that she's experiencing one of the worst hangover throbbing pain in her head.

'Luckily it's still weekend or I'd probably be laughed at by Misao!'

She took a long, hot bath to ease her throbbing headache. Today's going to be training day for Yahiko and her. It has been very long ago when she started to make it into a weekly routine, the training session using wooden bokken with Yahiko that usually lasts for an hour or so. She knows that her brother is always excited about martial arts training, however lacking it is, as he once discovered an old photo of their father who won a competition. Since then, Yahiko always wanted to master the technique of Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu, and berated his sister to teach him some. Kaoru was reluctant to teach him at first, for two reasons. one being her limited knowledge about the technique itself, and reason number two is because she simply wouldn't want Yahiko to turn out like their father.

_No, definitely not like her father in his last few years before he passed away.._

After their no-fuss breakfast, one that Yahiko didn't dare to even comment on, as Kaoru's expression told him there'll be heck to pay if he dared to squeak out his smart-ass remarks. He stayed quiet and they ate in a soothing silence. Their training session commenced and ended as the morning turned to noon, and by then, Yahiko had to leave for work at Akabeko. She has to suppress a snicker when she jokingly mentioned about one of the cute waitresses that Yahiko might have laid eyes on…and he blushed considerably, defending himself mightily against her 'accusations' and quickly scurried out of their house. Only then Kaoru fell down and laughed her head off. Yahiko can be so easily provoked. She has to remember to do it again soon…._Ouch…_she grimaced as her head is still pounding a bit.._Just what did I drink last night?_

After she changed into her customary weekend outfit, meaning a casual shirt and jeans, she checked her wallet. _'Mm, maybe I should save up a bit more, that going-to-the club thing that Sano suggested sure did some nasty things..like burnt a hole in my wallet for one'_. She sighed as she sat down in the tatami mat, thinking.

_Well, this house is kinda old, perhaps…if I was to sell it….. _

She stayed still for a long while…

……

……

"Konnichiwa!" a feminine voice was heard from the gate.

Kaoru practically jumped off the floor. '_Damn, who could that be?' _

"Hai…chotto matte kudasai!", she answered right back, her feet scrambling to get to the door.

"Konnichiwa…a..a…Ta..kani-san!", Kaoru's facial expression was incredulous.

"Kaoru-chan…are you busy?" the older woman smiled as she made careful observation of Kaoru's house.

"Aa..iya..iie…I'm not…please come in….", she still couldn't believe her eyes that her malicious supervisor was there standing at her door.

"Thank you", she smiled sweetly.

Kaoru sighed inwardly. What does she want now? "Mm…Takani san, if I may ask, what brings you here today?" she started off hesitantly.

Megumi smiled again. She cast away a few strands of black silky hair out of her way. "Well, Kaoru-chan, I would like to ask you to keep me company to do shopping today", she replied with ease. Kaoru can't help but feel suspicious. "Err…oh? I..I thought..I had an idea that you dislike me…so…er.." she was unsure of how to say the rest. Megumi chuckled. "Well, that's to say the least….but I realized that I was wrong. This is my way to apologize and start anew. So, would you accept? She said without preamble. Kaoru's mouth gaped. She was just staring at the beautifl woman before her, until Megumi couldn't stand it anymore

"Kaoru-chan…."

"Kaoru-chan…you still here?…"

"KAORU-CHAN!"

"Aa….hai…Takani-san"

"So, is that a yes?" Megumi smiled rather slyly.

"Err..I guess…everyone deserves second chances ne?" she remarked somewhat doubtful of her own decision.

"Good…let's go then!", she chirped happily.

_Kaoru nodded dumbly. 'What am I getting myself into?'_

…..

Her eyes suddenly opened up. The presence of cold sweat was gracing her forehead as she thought over what just happened.

…...

_A dream….Nightmare..err..daymare…_

Perhaps worse than that..

_'Damn….what did Sano put into my drink last night?'_

She shook the image of the friendly Takani Megumi off her head.

_This is hallucination at its best_..she felt goose bumps shot down her arms as the dream felt so real.

Yet so far-fetched..

_She would rather dream of the gorgeous redhead Himura-san_.. '_o yeah, perhaps next time..'_

her mind was becoming naughty…she blushed at her own musings.

* * *

Enishi woke up very early that morning. In fact, he barely could sleep. _'Damn, that girl's smile still haunt him and he even compared it to his sister's!_' He must have gone mad..he smirked at the irony, and he commanded his mind to quit thinking about the girl with a dazzling smile. Forget it. Tonight he'll have an important meeting with Tsunan in regard to his sister. Hmph…to think that he has to use weaklings and underlings to accomplish his purposes was unnerving. But his options are quite limited at the moment…

He rose from his comfortable king size bed, clad in nothing but a black boxer. He stretched his arms gracefully, and stood up in all of his glorious physique that was to be envied by most guys, and drooled over by many many girls. His muscles are not too bulky and thick, but they are nicely toned and tight, his frame is not too short nor too tall, but everything seems to fall in a balanced proportion. He reached for his boxer and took it off, and sauntered off to the bathroom stark naked.

* * *

Enishi was having his lunch with fellow businessmen when his phone sounded. He excused himself and was soon engaged in a conversation with his henchman in China.

"Yukishiro-sama, the deal has been closed successfully. You will be needed though as…."

Enishi cut it off. "Fine, you will have to act on my behalf, I will not be leaving here just yet"

"…Sure, Yukishiro-sama"

The conversation ended.

* * *

Murasaki Lounge that night…

A handsome figure sat at one corner of the lounge. His dark blue shirt contrasted with the gray tone of his pants. A matching light jacket was neatly hung on the back of the chair. As usual, girls hovered around him, hoping to catch his attention in a not-too-subtly manner, but he ignored them all.

Yukishiro Enishi sat down on one of the chairs in the lounge, waiting. If there's one thing that he hates, it's waiting. But he is a patient man…_for Nee-san.._

"Good evening, Yukishiro-san…"

Enishi looked up and nodded, gesturing for his guest to sit down across from where he is seated.

A waitperson came around to their table and asked for their order. They placed an order and she promptly left.

"Have you considered it, Tsunan-san?"

"Yes, I have..", he surely replied.

"And the answer..?"

"I'm on…..how much time do I have?"

"Not much..two-three weeks? I have other businesses to attend to", Enishi flatly responded.

"Two-three weeks it is. Do I get a lead at all?"

"I've only got a name. Yukishiro Tomoe"

"..Better than nothing" _Gee.. I'm getting good at this short-sentence reply_, Katsu thought amusedly.

"Right. Contact me when you find her. You know the deal", the silver-haired guy straightened the pair of glasses atop his nose, hiding his facial expression.

_'Cheh….as if he has any facial expression other than this one'…_Katsu almost smirked at his own lame joke as he observed the other guy.

Their order came. Two cups of high-quality Japanese sake.

Each took a cup and sipped it in silence, observing their surroundings with mild interest. Katsu put down his empty cup and cleared his throat.

"Right then, Yukishiro-san, I better take my leave..got a date tonight", he grinned widely at the stoic man before turning around and took off.

Enishi just nodded coolly and quietly watched him off, the sake cup still in his hand.

He can't help but think that his date tonight will be…_that girl_…

His brows creased. _Why am I thinking about some stranger now?_

* * *


	15. What Could Happen Next

Disclaimer: …they are borrowed…

**

* * *

**

**Chapter XV**

**What Could Happen Next**

* * *

The next morning.. 

Katsu was looking at the phone book in front of him, scanning the names written neatly in black ink, looking for a particular name.

_'Where is he?…Ah…here it is…'_

_'Mitsu Kobayashi…'_ He pondered as he reached out for his telephone.

"Hello…Kobayashi-san? Tsukioka Tsunan here….I was wondering if you could…."

* * *

Akabeko 

At the restaurant, Megumi ordered plenty of sake. It was still early, but today is her day off, and although she needs rest as she doesn't feel well today, she was quite a strong drinker when she needs to be, and at times like these, she needs a lot of drink to help her forget about whatever has happened before. _Rest be damned._

Looks like she needs to forget that icicle that was her boss. '_But to lose against someone like Kamiya…' _she sighs, slightly irritated. This week, she has been going to different bars just to get drunk..more than three times as she recalled. And this time, she had enough of bars, and she opted for Akabeko again. It was nice and quiet around this time, so she could freely contemplate without disruption.

'…._I've become a wreck because of that dense guy!_ _How sad is that!'_ She pondered as she sipped her sake.

_This has to end.._

There was a determined gleam in her soft chocolate eyes. There are other guys worthy of her time than that ice-block Shinomori Aoshi. Her mind flew back to Kamiya.

_'I was wrong. I shouldn't take my anger at her, it is not professional at all…'_

_'Perhaps. I should…apologize?'_

She willed herself to think it over.

_'Apologize? To Tanuki?_ _the world must be coming to an end…?'_

_...Sigh.._

_'I guess I'd have to..'_

She straightened herself up. She has enough drinks today, and she is aware that she's going to nurse a mighty hangover later, but she doesn't care just yet. She left some bills for tip, and stood up, a bit too fast, and she had to brace herself, steadying herself with the help of the shoji. '_Have I overdone it this time?'_

"Miss…are you alright?" the waitress piped out. Tsubame was looking worried to see the beautiful customer swaying off balancea little, but she could not very well deny her when she wants to order sake, even though she doesn't look very well..

"Hai..I'm okay", she softly replied. She was getting a bit nauseous.

_'No, I am not okay. I better go home'_

She walked slowly, carefully putting each step as she felt her world turns about in a stomach-churning manner.

She was just about to step out of Akabeko's entrance when everything in her vision swirled around and she was forced to succumb to the darkness around her.

Tsubame shrieked and she was trying to catch her so that her head wouldn't hit the floor at least. It was a difficult task, but she accomplished it with much effort. She was kneeling, both of her hands were holding Megumi's head, and she was looking around for help.

It was still a bit early for lunch, and there was no other customer who could help. Tae was at the back of the kitchen, and the cooks are also at the kitchen. She was too afraid to leave this lady customer passed out and alone. Who knows what could happen to her next? Tokyo isn't exactly the safest of places..

Tsubame was thinking hard.

* * *

"Oyy, Tsubame-chan….I come rather early today, haven't had my breakfast…"

A familiar voice sounded like the beautiful tinkling of bells to Tsubame's ears.

She almost burst into tears of joy at seeing Sanosuke standing, grinning ear to ear at her. As quick as it came, the grin turned to frown at seeing the sight in front of him.

_'She is….'_

"What has happened?", he quickly queried, bending low to touch the lady's forehead. She looked so pale. '_She isn't dead, is she?' _He checked her pulse. It was there, but rather weak.

Tsubame was overwhelmed to see him that she almost lost her voice. She was struggling to find it back….

"A…the..lady…she was unwell…she drank a..lot..she fainted….", she murmured almost inaudibly. Sanosuke had to really listen to what she said and her words finally dawned at him.

_'And here I thought she was murdered or som'thin..',_ he sighed in relief inwardly.

"Tasukete...kudasai.. Sanosuke-san..", she asked worriedly.

Sanosuke ruffled her hair, his lips turned up to form a small smile as he answered her. "Don't worry, Tsubame, I will help.."

He easily picked her up and was about to go, when he suddenly remembered. "Don't forget to make me that very nice beef stew! I'll come back later", with a wink, he went off.

Tsubame wiped her tears and she couldn't help but giggle at Sanosuke's word.

* * *

Sanosuke was carrying the beautiful goddess that he saw a few weeks earlier. 

_'Finally, we meet again….but I don't actually want to meet you like this…'_

She was so light, almost fragile in his hands. It made him want to protect her more, for some strange reasons.

_'She is as beautiful as an angel_…', his eyes roamed around the silky black hair, long curled black lashes, almond-shaped eyes, perfectly sculpted pert nose, translucent skin….sensual lips.

He had to fight his sudden urge to kiss her.

He sat her up in his car's front passenger seat, fastened her seatbelt, before turning to the driver side and doing the same to himself. The black Jeep took off, leaving a trail of dust as it went.

The way to Dr. Genzai's clinic seemed to be taking forever with the angel beside him.

* * *

Genzai Clinic 

"There's nothing wrong…she's just too tired and she seemed stressed…perhaps that's why she wasn't strong enough to take the copious amount of alcohol.…I will prescribe some medicine to assist her", Dr. Genzai noted as he checked on Sanosuke's friend, or so the spiky-haired man told him earlier.

Sanosuke nodded as the old doctor went off to prescribe the ingredients for the medicine. It was after all, a traditional clinic with traditional practitioner who still relies very heavily on the wonders of herbal concoctions.

He sat there and watched the beautiful face before him_. 'I could stay like this forever…content at just watching..' _he thought with a small smile on his face.

Megumi was slowly waking up from the oblivion that had swallowed her whole earlier. She stirred and winced at the pounding on her head and the feeling of wanting to throw up, it definitely was not a very good combination. She willed herself to crack her eyes open, and was dazed at seeing daylight once again. Her headache immediately came back at full force.

"Ow…", she cringed at that sharp stab of pain.

"Don't move too much just yet…" a masculine voice was heard out of the blue.

She was so surprised she opened her eyes and twisted her head to the direction of the voice, earning another stab of pain. _'Oof….'_

"I told you not to move too much…just be still…Don't worry. this is a doctor's clinic", the same calm voice was heard.

_'Doctor's clinic? What has happened?'_ her mind whirled in an attempt to recall what she's done.

As if reading her mind, he continued "You fainted. I took you to this clinic and you'll be getting some treatment to help you feel better".

She was absorbing his words when suddenly she felt something touched her forehead. It was nice and soothing, but she gasped in surprise anyway.

Sano smirked at her reaction. Hejust touched her foreheadwith the back of his palm, when she gasped, obviously taken aback. She opened her eyes so slowly, afraid of getting that sharp stab of pain in her head like before.

She was so surprised at seeing the spiky brown hair and a sympathetic pair of chocolate brown eyes looking straight back at her. Her cheeks pinkened.

_'How embarrassing…'_

As if understanding her awkward situation, Sano turned his had to look at the windows of that small clinic. He was unsure of what to say either.

For sometime, they stayed in an uncomfortable silence.

Megumi felt her throat so parched and dry, but she was too embarrassed at asking the guy for some water. She just stayed quiet for awhile, while trying to ignore her growing thirst.

"I think you better drink some water, "Sano offered, finally breaking the silence. He thought that she looked quite pale. He brought out a glass to her, but as she tried to get a grip on the glass, his other hand was covering hers, bringing it down to her sides once again as he took the liberty of brining the glass before her very lips, and she wasn't able to protest when the water slowly trickled down her throat. She didn't know that water could be that refreshing until now. She drank quite a lot. Sano was smiling a little.

Dr. Genzai came back with the herbal blend in his hand. He smiled at seeing the lady is fully awake and Sano is giving her a drink of water. It was quite a pleasant sight to behold, really.

_'Hmm..isn't itnice to be young again..'_

He cleared his throat "All right, here is the medicine to keep your fever down, plenty of rest and water, and no alcoholic drink for at least two weeks", he said with a small smile.

Megumi's face was flustered. It was suffused with heat that she was sure that her embarrassment beat the heat she gets from the fever. She nodded slightly.

"Thank you, Dr. Genzai!", Sano said happily. He looked at the lady on the clinic's bed and asked her, "I would take you back, but you need to tell me your address. You need plenty of rest".

She was speechless. '_How straight-forward was that!' _She can't help the blush that threatened to rise up again. "I'm fine, thank you. I can make my way home", she declined rather shakily.

"I have none of that. I have to make sure that you get there safely, as I've made promise to a certain little waitress today, and the only way to do that is by me taking you home." He said with finality. Megumi suddenly remembered the waitress who served her at the Akabeko today.

'_Oh…I see..' _"I…I see…thank..you", she finished lamely.

Sano grinned triumphantly.

* * *

A/N: Uh, what am I to do with all these characters? huulp!….this chap's mostly S/M interaction. Apologies for lack of E/K/A etc, etc.. 


	16. Peace Offering

A/N: O..Inspirations…where art thou? Rather short

Disclaimer: RK is Watsuki Nobuhiro's.

* * *

**Chapter XVI**

**Peace Offering**

* * *

**Monday morning**

Kaoru was in no mood to feel guilty now. She had been feeling guilty over the past couple of days, for she had said something rude to her supervisor. The conjured up image of her with Takani-san re-surfaced, and she shook her head in an attempt to shoo it away. 'What the heck.. let's just face it as it comes..'

The supervisor in question was not there yet. So was her boss. Not that she should think about him anyway. She greeted the bubbly receptionist warmly, went past a few colleagues on the way, threw a smile at Seta Soujiro who replied in a polite nod. That boy could be fifteen for all she knew, if it wasn't for his extra polite and courteous greetings, she is convinced that his age would just be a few years older than the brat at home, her very own Yahiko. She giggled, remembering the events this morning.

Yahiko was running late for school as usual, and instead of her scolding him, she took a different approach. She left a message by his door "Yahiko, wake up.. or you'll be running late for school. Don't forget to wash up this morning after breakfast! – Love, Kaoru " That would get him grumbling endlessly all day today, she thought with a little smirk, imagining her little brother running to school half-sleepy and disheveled. That darling brother of hers needed to be taught a lesson in self-discipline, she nodded affirmatively. Well, she expects an untidy breakfast table and dirty plates atop the breakfast table when she goes home after work today, but that's okay, he would still have to do it later in the evening.

Flicking carefuly a few pages of the advertising book that Himura-san lent her a couple days ago, Kaoru was now in full concentration at developing the advertising concept of Tsukioka's company as it is her first assignment that she needs to take care seriously. She was currently holding a piece of pencil between her lips, studying the graphics in front of her when a dark haired woman approached her desk.

"Ohayou, Kaoru-chan…"

Kaoru looked up, her mouth agape. Her pencil dropped on top of her notepad.

'_Is this not the same woman who loathed her so much last week?'_

Megumi Takani was standing in front of her desk, her expression inscrutable.  
Kaoru gulped.

Before Kaoru could utter a single thing, her supervisor beat her to it.

"Listen, Kaoru-chan, I apologize for last week, that was uncalled for…"

Kaoru blinked a few times.

'_Huh? am I hearing things? ..Strange… but she seemed honest enough._

Kaoru was truly flabbergasted now.

"…"

"Look, I understand if you can't accept my apology, well, actually… I kind of expect it…til' then, Kaoru-san", with a small smile, her elegant supervisor turned around on her heels, about to walk off into her office.

Kaoru noticed the deliberate suffix change that she made.

And not once the usually scheming lady teased her today.

'_Perhaps I should not be such an ass…she has said sorry..', _Kaoru thoughtmutely.

"Please wait, Takani-san….I…I'm sorry too..for what I've said", she forced a lop-sided smile to surface on her face.

Takani Megumi halted her step. She was deep in thought_. 'I guess I've made a mistake about her personality…'. _She reluctantly turned her head to acknowledge Kamiya. And she smiled, sincerely.

'…_I'm not such a cunning fox after all….'_

They both smiled.

Maybe there's such thing as a new start for them.

Something suddenly struck her mind…

'_Geez…that weird dream did come true somehow!!'_

* * *

**Tsunan's office**

"How can I help, Tsunan-san?", a cool voice asked.

"Well, I'd like you to find for me a girl. She was born in Tokyo, but got separated from her brother seventeen years ago. Her family name is Yukishiro, although I'm not sure whether she is still alive.. but if she is, well, either way I need your help to find out about her"

"…"

"What do you know about this girl?" comes the reply.

"Just her name. The family name is Yukishiro. If she were still alive, she might've been married, so I doubt if the surname means anything. Her first name is Tomoe".

"Fine. How much time do I have, Tsunan-san?", he replied after a few seconds.

"You'll have two weeks from now to search for her. Please let me know of any development you've made at the end of it. As for the fee, do let me know if you need anything within the span of two weeks' time", the artist said re-assuringly.

"I'll do that", the man said simply.

With a click, the phone conversation ended.

He shouldn't worry so much. They went a long way back. His thought flew back to the time when he and Kobayashi were in the same team as a freelance journalist for Edo News. _That seemed to be ages ago_.. but Mitsu Kobayashi was always quite an enigmatic character himself, and as a journalist, the job didn't seem to be fitting for the quiet guy. He was right. Kobayashi resigned not long after, and joined the military. Nowadays, he makes his living both as a day-time accountant, and a detective. Not many knew about his other, more discreet job, though.

Katsu sat on his chair, pondering about the decision of calling Kobayashi for assistance. He was still one of the best emissaries around that he knew of.He specializes in disceet, no-fuss and to the point solutionsTo sum it up, Mitsu Kobayashi is reliable and trustworthy.

_That's all he need now, right?_

He sat there in deep contemplation. There was something odd about this deal with Yukishiro Enishi.

_Wait…Yukishiro…at least that name isn't a common name_…..

_Tomoe Yukishiro_…_have I heard it before? _

_Somehow, there was something about the name… _

He massaged his forehead to clear his mind to no avail.

_Let Kobayashi deals with this unecessary stress_, he decided. He's got other things to do.

And by the way, perhaps he should call up Kamiya Kaoru for a coffee or something. The exuberant girl has not only managed to amuse him, but piqued his interest as well. _And that, is quite extraordinary in itself_, he smirked condescendingly.

He took out the business card she left the first time they met. He could almost recall the feel of her delicate hands when she hastily offered her card, as strange as it may sound.

Kaoru Kamiya.. _let's see.._

* * *

**Kashiwazaki Advertising Co.**

Shinomori Aoshi walked out from the car, and another figure followed in tow. Kashiwazaki Nenji was quietly observing his surroundings.

"We've arrived, Okina-san, Shinomori-san..", Hannya's austere voice was heard.

"Wait…I thought we're going to go to that Akabeko restaurant," Okina commented, glancing at his surroundings in all innocence.

Hannya smirked, and Aoshi looked at him with a slightly twitched eyebrows.

"Don't tell me you're already hungry…we've just eaten breakfast", he said.

"Hmmph…right, right", Okina waved his hand to shrug off his remark casually.

He peeked through the windows as they walked by, and whistled delightfully.

"Ooo…look….lots of pretty young women…

..tsk..tsk..you do yourself proud, Aoshi!", Okina bristled, his perverted gaze was now directed towards a receptionist in particular.

Hannya hid his smile once again. Okina is rather notorious for his advances toward young women. One of his goals in life, apparrently.

Aoshi had to grin at that. '_I better not tell him about Kamatari…'_

Turning around to relay a message to Hannya to do a few errands, Aoshi was facing outward, his back towards the entrance, trusting Okina to be drooling over the receptionist still.

Meanwhile, Okina was about to make another perverted remark some more, as his eyes were fixated at the shapely figure of the receptionist, who was wrapped up in a vibrant leaf-green dress, when suddenly, a figure ran through the stairs hurriedly, and knock Aoshi's back. Hard.

BUMP!

"Oof….", a strangled voice was heard following the unexpected collission.

* * *

A/N: sorry, there are plenty of bumping into people here & there.. that's actually the very essence of this story.

hopefully more E/K/A next time:)


End file.
